I give free copies of my new pdf "Knocked for Six" to the first three people who drop me a pm.
I just ask for a review on the Magic Café. It doesn't need to be 10 pages, just a few sentences will be ok.


"Knocked for Six" is a project gathering 6 card tricks that are really strong yet easy to do:

* In Case Hof Emergency: You remove the four Jacks (your « emergency cards ») from a deck and table them. A card is selected, let's say the 2H, and lost back into the deck. You concentrate and reveal that his card is the QS, and you produce it in one cut! The spectator tells you this is not his card. You wave your "emergency" packet over the deck and the Jack of the same suit as his selection, the JH, turns face up. Then, the three remaining cards are turned over: they've changed into the 2S, 2D and 2C! Finally, you reveal that the JS, JD and JC are face up in the middle of the deck with one face down card between the JS and the JD... the 2H!

* Biddle Juice: Two cards are selected by Topper and Ramada, and lost into the pack. You place a packet of five cards, including his selection, between Topper's palms. Ramada selects an indifferent card that you place between her palms. After a magical gesture, Topper's selection disappears from his packet. One card is found reversed in the middle of the deck, but this is Ramada's selection! Topper's selection is now in Ramada's hand!

* Triple Success: You remove the two Jokers and three indifferent cards from the deck so the spectator can't choose them. You write three predictions on your business cards. The spectator then cuts to three cards and chooses to place one of them between the Jokers, another one among the three indifferent cards and the last one is reversed into the deck. The predictions match the spectator's choices!

* Duplications: The magician extracts a deck from its box, showing it is actually cut in half widthwise! Two spectators shuffle and cut each half and in the process, select one half card. The selections are placed face down on the table. The selections are turned over and reveal one half of a 8S and one half of the KD... It looks like it's a failure! But you turn over the box to display a prediction card stuck on its back : A card with one half of a 8S and one half of a KD!

* The Power of Love: Two selections, representing a couple of spectators, are signed and placed face to face between two odd backed 10H, representing their love. The four cards are then tightly held by a rubberband. Explain that though they love each other, small arguments may happen and in this case, you may sleep in the same bed but back to back! After a magical gesture, without removing the rubberband, you show that the signed cards are now back to back! Yet, you also explain that they don't have to worry because love is stronger than anything and in the most beautiful love stories, two may become one. You ask the spectators to remove the rubberband so they can see by themselves that the two cards have now fused together!

* Colorful Journey: The four aces are removed from a red backed deck. The AS is placed on top of the red deck as the three other aces are lost one by one into a blue deck. After a magical gesture, the aces disappear from the blue backed deck and reappear on top of the red deck, under the AS.

These routines are explained in a 24-page ebook with 23 accompanying photographs.


The ebook is available from now for only 8$ until next Thursday. Then it goes up to 10$.
paypal paiement to : r.czaja@libertysurf.fr

This is a VERY good ebook! Biddle Juice is fantastic. I was a bit jealous that I hadn't thought of it first! I also loved the Hofzinser tirck. Heck, it's all good. Raphael is definitely a guy who needs to be more well known as his stuff is super cool, commerical and off-beat.

Thank you Cameron. The Hofzinser trick is still my favorite as I've worked hard on it to streamline the handling as much as possible without losing the impact of the climax. I like how easy it is comparing to how strong the climax is.

Biddle Juice seems to be one of the favorites of many people, including Peter Duffie. ;-) By the way, I'd like to thank him here for the time he spent correcting my english. I didn't ask for it, he wasn't obliged to do it, but he did it anyway. He's the man!

Also, I've finally chosen four people to review the book.

Thank you all.

R.

As promised, here's my review:

In the first paragraph of the intro, Raphael notes that English is not his first language. Although I have to point out that there are many grammatical mistakes in the introduction, I can tell the write-ups of the effects were subjected to much greater scrutiny, because they all read just fine. However, I have to admit that I still had a hard time following some of the routines. This wasn't so much a language problem, but rather a stylistic one. When describing card handling, when referring to the "top" and "bottom" of the deck, some people are referring to the back and the face; other people use these terms relative to whether the deck is face up or face down at the moment. I tend to think in the former terms, but I believe in Raphael's descriptions, he's using the latter style. Without following along with a deck of cards in your hands, this can be a little disorienting. The e-book is well-illustrated, but a few more photos at key points would've been even more helpful.

There are also a couple of places where Raphael seems to be taking mental shortcuts, leaving out bits of info that are intuitive to him, but not necesaarily to the reader. Biddle Juice is an example of this. I must confess I'm not familiar with the Biddle trick this is based on, so trying to follow the description was challenging. I don't believe it was meant to be written in such a way that knowledge of the original effect was required, but rather it seems as if in-depth knowledge if the original effect may have made a more thorough description seem superfluous.

Moving on to the effects as a whole, I found them all to be well-constructed and very practical. They're not sleight-heavy, and the moves you do need to employ are well-explained. This isn't an ebook that's going to send you running off to secondary sources to learn the referenced moves, and after some frustrating experiences with some other books and ebooks, I greatly appreciated having all these routines be self-contained in this way.

I also liked that there's good variety in the types of effects: In Case Hof Emergency is a transformation/location, Biddle Juice happens in the spectators' hands, Triple Success is a prediction effect, Duplications is a synchronicity effect, Power of Love is an Anniversary Waltz variation, and Colorful Journey is a teleportation effect. And seriously, there's not a weak one in the bunch. Trying to imagine these from the spectator's perspective, I think they'd all play extremely well. If I had to pick a favorite, it might be Duplications, because most spectators will have never seen an effect done with half-cards, which makes it instantly memorable, and for the most part, they're doing all of the handling, which makes the end result extra-baffling.

For 6 effects of this caliber, the price Raphael is charging is unquestionably a bargain. Compared to the pricing models employed by some other outfits, I strongly recommend supporting creators who offer this kind of value.

I received an ebook, expect a review from me within 24 hours, thanks!

Regards,
Mike

Ryesteve : thanks for your review. I've tried to be as concise as possible. Also, I didn't want to fill it with variations (in handling) I may have come up with, because I wanted each trick to stand on its own. Simplicity was the key. Next time, I'll go further in my descriptions. Noneless, I'm glad that you were able to enjoy these effects anyway.
Thanks for pointing out the variety of effects. I think there is something for everyone in this book.

Actually, the "top" card for me is the first one and "bottom" card the last one, under the deck, either the deck is face up or face down.

It was time-consuming, more than I expected, and as each trick stands on its own (this was the best motivation I could get, when you know you can be confident about the quality of the final product, it's worth the time you spend on it!), at one point, I planned to sell it between 15 and 20$! Finally, I tried to get the lowest price as possible without being unfair toward other magicians works (selling it for let's say, 2$ would be like accepting a gig for 50$ in my opinion). Then, I saw an ebook from Dave Forrest with 6 tricks for 10$ so I thought it was a fair price. And you know how generous Dave can be.

I should point out that the idea of using the AH in the "final thought" section of "DUPLICATIONS" is to show this card as an example of two matching halves. The faces of the cards are toward the magician. So once you've cut the deck, you table the halves, showing two matching half-cards at the face of each half-deck.

Also, about "THE POWER OF LOVE", you can easily end clean once the trick is over. Take a break under the top two cards, square up the 10's on top of the deck, lift up the four cards above the break and pocket them with the rubberband.

Okay, here's my review:

Let me first state that I do not know Raphael Czaja. I have never met him, nor have I spoken with him before. My review is completely unbiased and honest.

Introduction: Raphael does a good job explaining the content of what is to come. Tricks that are strong and easy-to-do. This section is plain and simple (and short), so that the reader and move onto the good stuff! After having read the entire PDF, I agree with Rapahel...this is powerful magic that can be done by anyone with a reasonable familiarity with some of the principles in magic.

In Case HOF Emergency: What I love about this is that you are able to show the card selection using an "emergency" packet, without any difficult moves. It's a good transformation effect which can be used with just a little set-up.

Biddle Juice: A card disappears and is found somewhere else is just one part of this excellent effect. I give Raphael a lot of credit for coming up with a force that works quite well, and goes unnoticed by the spectator. I tried this out, and boy does it work...and work well!

Triple Success: This is my favorite effect because it involves a prediction. This prediction will make the spectator think that you can predict the future. I tried this on my wife, and she was completely baffled. Again, the great thing about this is that it is simple, and although a few "moves" are required, they should not give anyone a difficult time in achieving the final outcome.

Duplications: This one is not my cup of tea, because it involves a half cut deck of cards, but for that time that you are looking to do a trick that is just a bit out of the ordinary, this may do the trick! A unique feature of this effect is that the spectator thinks you failed, when in fact, you were spot on!

The Power Of Love: Although my wife is not into magic, she especially liked the theme of this one. Two cards fusing into one! I used the patter implied in the PDF file about "the power of love" (yes, she's a romantic), and she thought this was a beautiful trick.

Colorful Journey: I have my own variation for this one, but how the aces "move" seems to confuse the spectator...and they have a weird look on their face, like "how is this possible!??". What I personally like about this one is that you end clean!!! Can't say that about many tricks in general...but for those of you that are worried about it...don't worry, because you really do end clean.

Overall, this is a PDF that offers great value for your money. For the price that Raphael offers this, you just cannot go wrong. I would have paid a lot for this. Get it, and start to amaze with some serious card magic...this is a great buy! Congratulations on your creation, Raphael.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks for confirming. The photos were helpful in pointing me in that direction. It's interesting that something as apparently basic as "top" and "bottom" can mean two different things, and technically, neither is wrong.

Mike: Thank you very much.

Using two half-decks is especially why I like this trick, haha! I know and understand that performers don't want to put 36 different decks in their pockets but this routine is very "visual" in a way... And as it is examinable, they understand this is a special deck but "ordinary" nonetheless.

I'm glad that you actually tried them out and they passed the wife test! It means a lot to me.

I'm goin to give this a 2nd readthru , and then ill shall post my findings in a day or 2. but it already looks like ppl r diggin this.

Well I have read this book twice now. This has already been reviewed a few times so I won't make this an essay.

I must also mention that I was one of the peeps who received this for free, And that I don't know Raphael personally. So here were the tricks I enjoyed the most.


- Biddle Juice: The original Biddle Trick has one magic moment. In Raphael's version you have multiple moment's of magic. Plus you get more than one spec. involved. Good stuff.

- Triple Success: Raphael's inspiration for this trick was Jay Sankey's "Hide, Keep, and Give away". I really liked Sankey's version, and I think Triple Success is just as good. And you also end clean in this one.

-Duplications: This would be a good trick to do, if your looking to get the audiences attention. It's a nice prediction effect, and it kind of has a Colombini type style to it. Maybe it's because of the cards being cut in half.

So those were my favourites, among the 6. There's also a variation of the Hofzinser ace trick in this book. If your a fan of this plot, I think you'll like it. There's also an Anniversary Waltz type trick in this book, which I think will play well for lay people. And finally there's also an assembly type trick, which is different from any other assembly type trick I've seen before.

All in all, I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys card magic. All of the sleights to do the tricks are explained in this book, so you won't have to purchase any other books just to learn a certain sleight.

Thanks.

James : Glad you found good stuff in it.

"It's a nice prediction effect, and it kind of has a Colombini type style to it."
And thanks for the compliment!

There is some strong material in this ebook. It is not difficult--just about anybody will be able to attain it. The low price makes it a no-brainer. For ten bucks, you get a lot of quality, usable material. Recommended.

Thank you Scott. Glad you recommend it.

Knocked for Six is now exclusively available through lybrary.com.

KNOCKED FOR SIX written by Raphael Czaja

IN CASE HOF EMERGENCY - There is a lot of maneuvering going on in this trick. That don't keep it from looking good. Spectators should be surprised to see the cards travel. substantial set-up called for …..Winner

BIDDLE JUICE - Though it is suggested that the performer mentions cards switching places, the cards do not switch places in this trick. Spectators will probably be so stunned at what happens that they will not be aware of that detail. Cards do change places in Biddle Juice. There is a teleportation and transformation or it could be seen as a teleportation and vanish. Impromptu..........Very good trick

TRIPLE SUCCESS - This one is a sure-footed baffler. Everything flows smoothly. Impromptu............Very good trick

DUPLICATIONS - The main value of this effect is the unusual look of it. The trick is easy to do and it has a satisfying ending. substantial set-up required....Good trick

THE POWER OF LOVE - The Power of Love has a smooth flow. Spectators are treated to an incredible conclusion. minimal set-up..…..Winner

COLORFUL JOURNEY - An easy and effective teleportation of three cards. Three blue backed cards are displayed as red backed cards in a very convincing manner. substantial set-up required........Winner

Good Stuff....Six strong effects from Raphael Czaja
I generally seek out impromptu card material. The non-impromptu material from KNOCKED FOR SIX is worth the effort to set it up.

Thanks, man.

Glad you enjoyed the non-impromptu tricks anyway. I also think they are good enough to deserve the set-ups involved.

I keep working on an impromptu e-book with at least the same level of quality (strong and easy to do) than this one, which is hard work considering that you can't use any set-up or gimmicks.

I've also a few other stand-alone effects I'd like to share.

one thing that could be eliminated from Triple Success is the Siva Count. There is a much easier way to accomplish the final switch. Anyone can PM to find out the method.

Well... I'm very curious too!