Man, there is a ton of good magic being created nowadays, some good, some bad, and some devilishly clever!

If you think of the handful of guys who are creating new effects, and in some rare cases, new methods, who would you vote for as the most absolutely diabolical creative mind of our day?

When I use the word diabolical, I mean to say methods that are so profoundly clever and beyond the scope of mere mortal spectators minds to even begin to grasp, that diabolical is the only word that comes to mind.

My vote goes to Jay Sankey. What a mind!

What do you think? (You can't say yourself!)

The Devil himself, Derren Brown.

Jack Shalom

Jack,

What are some of Derrin's creations? (I have heard of his name, but I am not sure what he has created)

Robert Neale. And his personality is a bit diabolical as well. One of his non-magic books is titled "The Art of Dying".

I would probably have to say me. Oh wait, I can't say myself...(Shameless self-plug to check out my e-book )

Well, I think my thinking is diabolical, anyway. But in going along with the guidelines of the original post, I would have to agree that some of Jay Sankey's material is ineed "diabolical".

John Bannon is another creative genius as well.

Zach

How about Richard Osterlind, best DVDs out this year?

I recently saw a video of Del Ray. It is so clever I can't get over it.

Simon Aronson. Some of his creations are diabolically clever. His Shuffle Bored and Undo Influence principles are good examples!

Probably his most well known effect is Smoke. Briefly, the spectator thinks of a card from a spread deck. Then the card is shown to have disappeared from the deck. Audience applauds. A beat. Derren starts gagging on the cigarette he's been smoking. But wait--it's not a cigarette--it's the spectator's thought of card, rolled up, that he spits out from his mouth.

For this and other killer routines, see the book Pure Effect, and his video, The Devil's Picturebook.

Jack Shalom

In giving this more thought, I'd also have to add to the list Gaeton Bloom.

If you have the priveledge of owning his "Visible Monte" you can get an idea of how clever this guy is.

And then there is his intercessor. VERY clever!

And how about Kenton Knepper? Diabolical word wise!

I'll think of more. I just did. Tommy Wonder comes strongly to mind.

Tommy Wonder is one of those types too I feel.

Also, though he was more of an innovator then inventor, was the Late Fred Kaps. But he could blow away an audience with the simplest thing.

Two questions, Randy.

One, what do you think was his secret for blowing away an audience with a simple effect?

Two, you speak of him in the past tense, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Tommy was still alive.

I thought he recently made a new series of DVD's for L&L Publishing.

I must have worded that wrong, as I meant Kaps did that. Yes, Tommy is very much alive.

As for Kaps, as I have said before, I never was able to see him in person. But have seen films and read what I can on him.

I do know that one of the things he did was to do the cig thru hank effect. No one ever expected him to use a hank with a hole in the center but that is exactly what he did. But it still fooled those watching

I recently read some interesting trivia on Kaps.

Seems he shared another important day in history.

Recently was the anniversary, forty years, of the Beatles making their debut on the Sullivan show.

That very same night, along with the original Broadway cast of Oliver, sharing the billing and performing a card trick, was none other than our beloved Fred Kaps.

Not earth shattering, but caught my fancy, nevertheless.

I was only nine years old at the time.

Yes Kaps was on that show. I was only 13 months old at the time so I have no way of remembering it at all. I have seen a clip of Kaps doing the Homing card on that show.

I didn't see it, only in my minds eye as I read the story.

I do remember the Sullivan show, though. Sweet vivid memories for me.

Another I would have to put in here is Roger Klause. he can fool you with something you thought you knew.