Hi,

I'm not sure whether to post this in the book reviews or here so I'll try my luck... I saw an ad in the april issue of MAGIC magazine for illusion books by JC Sum. I have not heard of him before. I have several books by Paul Osbourne and Andrew Mayne as well as Device & Illusion by Jim Steinmeyer. Are these books by JC Sum worth getting as I'm looking to learn more about illusions? I went to his website and was pretty impressed with some of his stuff. Are all the illusions perfomed on the video clips explained in the book?

Thanks in advance for any helpful info.

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......;forum=7 here is a review on one of his books.

Hi Joej,

J C Sums books are both excellent. There are no pipe dreams and nothing is left to your imagination.

Illusionary Departures has a variety of original illusions and standards that have been modified or adapted for a different presentation. Some can be performed close-up and surrounded while others require a stage setting, lighting detail etc. Everything offered has been tried and tested in live performance and guaranteed to work without modification, which is a real bonus with any book on illusions.

The event illusionist concerns the running and managing of an illusion show. Crammed with excellent information that takes you right from the planning stage to marketing, getting the gigs, what to charge and performing the show. Only one illusion featured in it so not a book for learning about the ‘tricks’ but an invaluable book on the business side of things for any (potential) professional illusionist.

I cannot recommend them highly enough. Solid, practical, workable material… Worth every cent and more.

Hope this helps

Carl

A search here on the Café for JC Sum will produce several results about his books and other work.

He is also a member here himself and speaks openly about his products.

J C's books are most certainly worth the investment. He is one heck of a great guy, to boot !!!! J C was kind enough to give me some illusion building advice , long before I purchased his books.

Believe me when I say that his books leave nothing to chance.They are concise, well illustrated , and very easy to comprehend.

I can't wait for his next offering !!!!!!!!!!!
Brian

I have JC's books, Illusionary Departures and the Event Illusionist. Both are excellent books. The latter describes a long list of modern illusions you can do surrounded in real world situations.
The best thing I appreciate so much is I can email him and discuss illusions and performing situations. JC finds time to reply. Not many illusion authors do this. Can Paul Osborne, Andrew Mayne or Steinmeyer reply to you???
Recently, I have built and performed his Visual Displacement and JC has guided me thru email and even sent me detailed drawings of it.

Lou

Can't say about the other two, but yes, Jim Steinmeyer does reply, as does Mark Parker.

BTW, JC Sum is very nice young gentleman.....and smart brain. He gave idea of presentation using my Barstool Levitation. That idea is moe than I can imagine.

I second Mark Parker. He does reply.

I have read both of JC's books. I agree with everyone else, they are GREAT! He doesn't leave anything out. You can build and perform anything in these books. Very good investment!

J

Thanks a lot this sound really great but still got to save up alittle before I have enough cash.I'm going to add this on top of my to buy list.

Could somebody explain the effects found in the book? I've seen the names of the illusions posted, but no descriptions of what the magic is. That would prove helpful.

Here's a link to his site, this should help you a lot. http://www.jcsum.com/products.html

J