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elgranmago Veteran user 371 Posts |
It is Halloween season. Are you in the mood to haunt? To be clairvoyant?
I invite you to check out Books and Lecture Notes for Sale or Trade in the Let s Make a Magic Deal section of the Café. A few are out of print and not easy to come by now. There are some treasures there which I believe good bizarrists and mentalists would simply love to incorporate into their libraries and repertoires. To read and be inspired, on a cold and stormy Autumn night.
"It´s kind of fun to do the impossible". Walt Disney
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Deckstacker Elite user Sunny SoCal 442 Posts |
In light of a friend's observation that "You can't kiss all the girls," is there one title amongst all the others that you would recommend as a first purchase for someone (me) to get started in this spine-tingling genre?
Never try to teach a pig how to sing. You will waste your time, and it annoys the pig.
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Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
Deckstacker, I wish there was an easy go-to for bizarre magic. There are plenty of good, inspiring books, but useful really depends on what you want to do. There isn’t really a bizarre version of Mark Wilson’s Complete Course.
Some that I really like: Pentalogy by R. Shane (I was delighted to see it is available on Lybrary.) Vo Du Ma Gick by Baba Gede Nibo (on Lulu) Altar Flame compiled by Mary Tomich (no longer available) Big Black Book by Keith Hart (Dark Hart website - see his YouTube videos for examples of some of the tricks) Seance Magazine by Scott Davis(compiled into a book, but it appears sold out everywhere I’ve looked) This is not even a decent survey of what’s out there, only the books in my collection that I keep returning to most often. Other people with my exact same library might ignore those books and focus on the ones I read and shelved. Do you know what kind of performance interests you? Do you want seance, gore, whimsical, silly, apparent demon possession, secret societies, or some entirely different sort of presentation? Most bizarre magic really uses exactly the same methods as any other branch of magic. The presentation is what’s so very different. I’ve only read two of the books in the photo above. Capricornian Tales is very good, but doesn’t fit what I want to do. Spirit Theater confused me because I have a very different idea of what a seance is all about. Every book there has a great reputation, so for some people would be in the A list. Patrick |
Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
Quote:
On Oct 18, 2021, Mr. Woolery wrote: Also available on Lybrary.com https://www.lybrary.com/seance-magazine-p-922128.html
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Deckstacker Elite user Sunny SoCal 442 Posts |
I was starting to focus in on Seance Magazine, as it seemed like it might offer sort of a Whitman's Sampler of various types of the bizarre genre. But the first thing I ran across was a statement to the effect that the book version is "exclusively distributed by Murphy's Magic." Soon after that I Googled the subject and saw that Lybrary, Penguin and even Amazon all sell it. Now I'm confused. I'd definitely only want a legit copy, but...are they all kosher? Some of them bogus? What's the real skinny on this anyway?
Never try to teach a pig how to sing. You will waste your time, and it annoys the pig.
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Chris Inner circle lybrary.com 1177 Posts |
I purchased the rights from Scott Davis and thus Lybrary.com is the only one authorized to offer a digital edition. Some dealers may still offer the old printed edition, but I do think it is officially at least out of print. If you see anybody else besides Lybrary.com offer a digital edition, then that would be by definition unauthorized.
Lybrary.com preserving magic one book at a time.
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Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
I’m so glad Seance remains available. I don’t know how you manage to get so much good stuff, Chris. I’m just glad you do.
Patrick |
Mr. Woolery Inner circle Fairbanks, AK 2149 Posts |
And Deckstacker, my one real warning with Seance is that about halfway through, you’re going to wonder if anyone ever attempts to contact anyone other than Houdini. But look a little deeper. One of my favorite props was adapted from a Houdini contact routine in Seance. There’s real gold in there.
Patrick |
Deckstacker Elite user Sunny SoCal 442 Posts |
Okay...if I can just squeeze a word in here edgewise.... Mr. Woolery posted this earlier:
"Do you know what kind of performance interests you? Do you want seance, gore, whimsical, silly, apparent demon possession, secret societies, or some entirely different sort of presentation?" I guess of all of the choices presented above, "whimsical" and/or "silly" might come closest. I am most interested in Halloween-ish approaches aimed at kids, specifically in the 6-12 years old bracket or thereabouts. I recall that many years ago when I was in that age group, parents would sometimes have kids at a 'spooky' costume party put on blindfolds and sit in a circle, and then pass around things like peeled grapes (eyes), kernels of corn (teeth), dried apricots (ears) etc. while having a grisly story read aloud about stolen body parts dug from a graveyard, etc., etc.-- with lots of laughs and squeals being elicited from the listeners. I thought that this thread might be a good place to jump in and get a few ideas, but perhaps not. Should I instead start a new thread, perhaps on the "Little Darlings" forum? Please advise...anyone...thanks!
Never try to teach a pig how to sing. You will waste your time, and it annoys the pig.
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Intrepid Inner circle Silver Spring, MD 1179 Posts |
Deckstacker, "Tales of Enchantment" by Walt Anthony would be a good one for what you're looking for.
And if you want halloween themed magic items that would be appropriate for young kids, I suggest checking out Mike Baker's webpage (The Magic Company). He makes some great products. I have a number of his oriental themed items, but he also has a large selection of halloween themes magic too. Many are old classics from magic, but decorated with spooks for halloween. http://www.themagiccompany.com/cat_main.html
Bob
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Deckstacker Elite user Sunny SoCal 442 Posts |
Quote:
On Oct 19, 2021, Intrepid wrote: Thanks for the tips! I'll be checking them out fairly soon, although personal matters will probably force postponement until next week.
Never try to teach a pig how to sing. You will waste your time, and it annoys the pig.
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