I don't want this to sound like an attack in anyway. I like this magazine and have a great respect for what Joshua does for it.

But...

Does anyone think that there are too many card tricks in the magazine in the talk about tricks section, its usually 90-100% card magic.

Derek Merdinyan

Card magic is popular and lends itself to printed medium well, probably why. I agree, there does seem to be a very large number of card tricks in Magic

I read Genii because there is a greater variety of tricks. However I have to order Genii or pick it up else where cause my local dealer won't carry it.
I liked the trick section when Jon Racherbaumer ran it because it wasn't 90% cards. It had more of a mixture of cards, coins, and other misc. effects. But it is Joshua's section and he has a right to put what he wants in it. So I respect that.

I agree. Too heavy on the card tricks. Since I do very few card tricks, that's the part of the magazine I generally give a casual glance to and nothing more. I would like to see a greater variety of tricks. Beyond that, I love Magic magazine. My local dealer doesn't carry Genii and I haven't gotten around to getting a subscription; so other than the Linking Ring and the Christian Conjurer magazines I get from my clubs, Magic is pretty much it for me.

I agree...Too many card tricks....Magic is a very diverse art form...It seems to me they should include other types of effects other than just cards and close-up material...I really do enjoy most of their articles though...Very nice work!

Ted

Hello everyone,

I thought I would take a few minutes to clarify a few misstatements in this thread.

I usually publish 4-6 tricks per column, and usually two of those are non-card. That’s an excellent ratio by anyone’s standards. Last year I published SIXTEEN non-card items.

To give you an idea, the latest Antinomy has eleven tricks. One of those is a non-card item.

The latest Genii has 4 tricks (by David Berglas). One of them is non-card. (The month before there were 5 tricks, and 2 were non-card).

I point this out because I believe both are fine magazines with consistently good material. But comments are being thrown around like my column has “less” non-card magic than the rest…when the opposite is often true. It depends on the month.

There are exceptions, of course, like Roger Crosthwaite’s one-man issue of March, 2006 (he’s an all-card guy). But these are balanced out with issues like March, 2007, when we ran an all NON-CARD issue on Luke Jermay. Perhaps some of you missed that issue, which involved chairs, watches, and rings…but no cards.

Here are some other non-card effects you may have missed, just from last year.

January: There were 3 complete routines NOT INVOLVING CARDS in this one-man issue by Rune Klan. A coin quickie, a prediction effect with a fake beard, and a great coin and bottle routine.

February: 1 non-card routine. It was an innovative coin routine from my friend Hideo, in Japan.

April: 2, one with coins and one with a bill.

May: 2 non-card effects from mentalist Rick Maue. One is a stand-up piece with chairs and one is with a drawing of your own hand.

June: 2 non-card effects: a mentalism idea with a clipboard, a great Cups and Balls move by Jon Allen.

July: 2 more non-card items. This issue had John Lovick’s favorite tipless bill switch, and a bill effect PLUS gimmick by Gregory Wilson.

September: 1 non-card gem. This has John Lovick’s hilarious effect wherein two spectators’ rings change places.

October: 1 non-card trick. Piano Séance, Raj Madhok’s spooky handling on the old Piano trick)
November: Two non card items. In the first, a card BOX is suspended on the tip of your finger (doesn’t involve any actual cards…) and Thriller, Garrett Thomas’ killer transposition between driver’s licenses.

So, I would say there are lots of fantastic non-card effects, from names you know like Garrett Thomas, John Lovick, Luke Jermay, Gregory Wilson, and lots of others from foreign magicians who have a great, fresh take and haven’t published much material elsewhere.

People are quick to complain about too many card tricks, but please allow me to make two points:

First, remember that we perform for laypeople, and laypeople are not sick of magicians or card tricks. There is ALWAYS room for great magic, card or non-card. I’m puzzled by magicians who are “sick” of card tricks. WE see lots of card magic, but the average layperson hasn’t seen more than, say, five in his or her lifetime!

Second, when you’re in my position, you have to make a choice. I get two or three submissions every day. And when you add them all up, the ratio of card to non-card submissions is more than 10 to 1. Of those “rare” non-card items, most all of them stink. Bad. I don’t know why, but good non-card material is extremely hard to come by. I’m sure my fellow trick editors would agree with that.

So…the choices are: publish JUNK simply because it’s non-card, or publish STRONG MATERIAL without much concern for whether it uses cards or poker chips.

I stand by my ratio of card to non-card material and resent comments like there isn’t enough variety. The list above is filled with close-up, parlor, mentalism, magic, and manipulation.

Occasionally someone will make an ill-informed comment like, “There isn’t enough difficult material” in Talk about Tricks. Well, I counted 16 effects with a difficulty rating of 4 or 5…so there’s clearly a variety of tricks for a variety of skill levels—card and non-card alike.

My column is an extremely time-consuming endeavor, but it’s largely a labor of love. From watching to learning to writing to photographing to editing to publishing, I love almost the entire process. But cursory, inaccurate criticisms are disheartening.

May will be hitting your mailboxes soon. Look for a great bill trick by Reynold Alexander and a nice coin sleight/production by Danny Archer.

Best,

Josh

I would have thought that Magic(which I subscribe to) is overloaded on card tricks but I think that no one can fault Joshua for trying his best with the info he's provided.

I really enjoy Josh's column and wish I was as accomplished and driven as he is at his age.

Good job Josh!

Brian

Greetings,

I just wanted to say that I think Josh does a great job of balancing the material that he publishes in his column. But then again, I can't really think of too many things that he isn't great at.

There is a ton of effort that goes into putting his column together, and I am constantly amazed at the high level of the material. And when you consider the overwhelming amount of card items that are constantly submitted, it is even more amazing to think about the number of non-card pieces that actually do appear.

Simply put, keep up the great work Josh.


Keep the change,
Rick Maue
Deceptions Unlimited

Hey Brian, why won't your local dealer carry Genii? We'd be happy to have you as a subscriber. http://www.geniimagazine.com

Thanks for clarifying that Joshua. I too though that it was all card tricks, but I thank you for setting the record straight.

I have enjoyed reading Magic Magazine for quite a while. I think it has quite a bit of card tricks in it as a whole and I believe that is because of the popularity of card magic. "Magic" also has an area for family entertainers (Silly Billy). Joshua's section has always been a great area for a multitude of different tricks, plus he has an area on the Magic magazine website with video clips of the tricks he performs.

I say to Joshua, GREAT JOB!!!

The thing is that when you do not do a lot of card magic it seems that alll you read about is card magic. When I bought my last car I all of a sudden noticed tons of them on the road just like mine. So the card tricks jump out at you because we tend to focus on them.

I propose we create a Trick-o-meter that measure the critical card to non-card balance that must be kept so the world will not come to an end.
Seriously though it is his column and he has done a good job of putting in TIMELY and Contemporary effects for our perusal! Good job Josh .

Now send me back my remote you took from my house ..