Hereby an in-depth review of Progeny by Fraser Parker. This is a fairly expensive book, and there is just not a lot about it online at the moment - so I felt an honest review of the contents is necessary. I did not post this in The Latest and Greatest to keep this a bit more hidden as the table of contents mentions previously available prop-less mentalism techniques - but there's nothing in the review or table of contents that would allow anyone to deduce anything about the method.

This book is/was available from Murphy's so there is a chance your local magic shop may have it. Otherwise, it is available direct from Fraser on his website in two versions: a paperback or a paperback with audio and ebook (both protected via a dedicated reader system). (200 vs 250 pounds sterling).

The TLDR for me is that this is a useful tool, and I will use it. In fact, if you've watched some of the available reviews you will know that this is a specific tool to do one thing: get the first letter of a word that your participant is thinking of. You do this by asking two main questions, which I will add: they do have to do with letters in general but that is not the overarching experience the spectator gets from the questions.

He discusses his Proto Star Sign revelation early on in the book, and - funnily enough - I wrote myself a version of this a few weeks ago using a slightly different mechanical method but certainly similar in spirit. I showed mine to a friend and they mentioned Fraser had a version, which I was not surprised to hear. I was surprised to find it in this book so shortly after, though!

I mention this, because in working with my star sign revelation and, no doubt, his Proto version, it becomes apparent very quickly that you need to be very clear and specific with your instructions. For Progeny, while the conversation with the spectator is certainly brief, you will need to make sure they are fully focused and processing everything during the short interaction - the instructions and the questions.

If this happens as it should, then it is a wild experience. The main system is explained in around 30 pages, and very shortly after reading this I had my friend pick a book up off my book shelf (he could have selected between several titles - I expect those reading this specific forum might have some of these on your own shelf too, no?).

He selected a word from the book, and within two very cheerfully focused questions I was able to tell him the full word. Later in Progeny, they discuss several options for expanding the first letter into a word which you then reveal. However, the use case I jumped to above is not mentioned. I say it here to let you know with full confidence it will work with these sort of books, and is what I was looking to get from this work.

To focus a bit on the structure and printing of the book, the cover feels great, though it does not have any writing on it - even on the spine. It feels nice, similar to the new Genii magazines. The printing is solid and I did not notice grammar or spelling errors. The pages feel centered to the actual page and not the visible page (which means the margins are wide on the edges and you must spread the book wider than normal as the inner margin is a bit too narrow to account for the gutter). There is no table of contents or index. The subsections I have made in the table of contents below I made myself, every chapter is given equal weight in the actual book.

Proto Star Sign: As I mentioned above, I created a version of this not so long ago, and in doing so I made a star sign revelation I would actually perform (and have). Would I perform this one? No, but that’s because I have mine. This covers most of the bases that mine does, however. If I wasn’t going to perform mine, then this would work equally as well - and I have never wanted to raise the question of their star sign to my audience before. This raises the standard method to another level of obfuscation.

Then follows a summary of a few of other standard prop-less mentalism ploys. He’s received permission to discuss these from several creators, so by purchasing this book you are saving yourself tracking down and compiling a working list. However, I expect nobody will be purchasing this if they are already not familiar or already using these in their performances. Some of these could come into play later, but again, you'll likely already know your own ways to accomplish the task they accomplish - if you don't, then perhaps this isn't for you.

Going further, Fraser discusses the development of the system. This information should be here, but isn't particularly useful. Finally, on page 75 we get to the main event. If you're familiar with mnemonics and another earlier encoding system he has used (which I was), then it will take one or two read throughs and you'll have it. Like I said, I did it pretty quickly after reading it.

I'm not sure if Fraser will ever release a performance video, the questions he has created use wording which could be analysed, but unless you can get inside the performer's head you won't ever be able to tell the incredibly detailed system backing it which makes it so easy to perform. You don't need to know the details which make this work. You only need a very easily remembered mnemonic list (significantly less than the number of letters in the alphabet, mind you) which is ridiculously abstracted from the mechanics behind it.

Rado then offers a different mnemonic method for remembering the list, although this seems more complex than the previous one. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this version over the one Fraser presents, but that may be because I routinely use the other one, and never use this one (an MP, for those that know).

Fraser then takes you through some examples which test your working knowledge, this is a very important step in the retention process. Personally, I create flash cards in an app called 'EddyStudy' on my Android phone. By the time I create the flash cards (sometimes even creating AI images and movies for myself) the items are locked in forever. I can easily call up the flash cards before a performance and run through them, if I need to. The last mnemonics I did this with were the star signs (and cusp dates AND greek myth origins) as presented in Stuart Palm’s Psychic Entertainment. Well worth getting, and doing, since you asked...

Back to Progeny, Fraser takes you through the option of now guessing the name someone is thinking of using his system, and the wider concepts necessary to do the standard name guess as popularised by Fraser and also Peter Turner.

The section on repeat performances has some thoughts on making this system repeatable for the same audience. These points are solid and worth knowing for other effects as well.

The next section, 'Impressions,' is important. The scripting he has created can be changed, but not without quite some work on your part. You must reinvent the whole system - and while the underlying principles can certainly be reworked if you have the patience and time, I'm not sure if anyone will do this except the most creative of performers (and also likely why he he is hesitant to put a performance video online).

What is wonderful though, is that the scripting he uses leaves the spectator feeling happy, and cheerful. This is what my friend experienced, and this is ideal. You could, if doing this on stage, create a secondary script to deliver immediately to another spectator and make it all the more deceptive - or like I said, create your own script and then it would be relatively invisible to those who have even purchased this book (or not purchased, in the unfortunate event it leaks).

I'll add, the scripting which is required for this gives a lovely experience and process to tuning into your spectator, 'getting on a positive wavelength' and gives a sense of depth to the divining of the word from the book - a process my friend has been through before. No longer do you have to 'miss' the first letter, but rather you can now go through an experience which adds enough to the interaction in itself with Progeny.

Fraser then takes you through a more complex version of the system that (in a way) is more direct, but (in another way) much more going on in your own mind. Personally, I went a bit cross-eyed. If this was the system he presented, I would be disappointed with this book. Not because it doesn't work, but because it is so much more complicated, while the main version is so elegant.

The section on Vowels is an additional system which perhaps is useful to have in your back pocket, I will look into this more when I've worked with the main system enough. The inclusion of this section does not mean that anything is lacking from the main system, if you get my drift.

They have then made copies of this system with versions for several languages. I cannot speak (to) these, but I am sure they will work just as well. Check the list below to see whether your language is included.

Rado then offers a number of ways to creatively expand this system to many restricted sets of information. You can see in the table of contents the various ones, I'm excited for the one which involves the tarot.

At the end of Progeny, Rado shares his date of birth revelation. It is not prop-less, and requires some calculations. I do not use billets, so I will not perform this - but I am sure many people will.

So, what's the verdict? Is it recommended? What is the star rating? Star rating is Sagittarius, and I recommend it for only me - nobody else should have it. Unfortunately, I am sure I do not have the cash to bribe him to take it off the market.

Foreword: Rado Sheytanov-Ruxton, 3
Intro, 5

Proto, 19
-Star Sign, 21
-Group Star Sign, 32
-Colours by Jose Pragner, 35
-Objects, 39
-Repeat it Ploy Words, 42
-Multiple No's, 44
-Repeat It Ploy Letters, 46
-Length of Word, 48
-Temporal Verbal Out by Peter Turner, 49
-Psychological Two Way Out Billet, 51
-One Ahead, 53
-Readings and Failure, 54

Development, 59
-Break-Through, 71

Effect, 75
-First Iteration, 77
-Inversion, 70
-Second Iteration, 82
-Pattern Encoding, 89
-Mnemonics, 97
-Memorizing the Crib and Long-Term Retention by Rado Sheytanov, 102

Narrowing Down, 108
-Indirect Fishing on Letters, 111
-Hidden Restrictions, 114

General Examples, 116

Name Guess, 122
-Filtering, 125
-Sui Gereris Ploy, 129
-Name Guess Examples, 132
-Notes on Guessing, 143

Repeat Performances, 146
Categories, 149
Impressions, 152
Trouble-Shooting, 156
Master System, 162
Constructing Key Words and Cribs, 173

Different Languages, 176
-German, 177
-French, 183
-Italian,187
-Greek, 189
-Spanish, 191
-Portuguese, 196
-Hebrew, 199

Vowels, 202
Additional Ideas by Rado Sheytanov, 214
-Alphabet Book, 215
-Zoo Park, 216
-Destination, 217
-Inner Eye, 218
-Inner Eye Two, 219
-Arcane Mind, 220
-Psychic Bartender, 221
-Psychic Waitress, 222
-Las Vegas Covenant, 223
-Psy Force Cover-Up, 224
-Hidden Accomplice, 225

Afterword, 226

Singularis: Obscura Update Date of Birth, 228
-Dedication, 229
-Introduction, 230
-Experience, 233
-Presentation, 243
-Explanation, 239
-Credit and Notes, 249

Anyone else pick this up? Thoughts?

Both are priced beyond my interest, but there is a comparison with SABA on MND.

https://mnd-set.com/2026/05/20/progeny-vs-saba-review/

Thanks for posting this, Joshua. I hadn't heard of SABA before. Interesting.

No worries, several friends are working on ideas with it to make their list of words suited to particular environments they work in. Not something I have, but they seem to be enjoying it and getting the value from it.

Yes, I have both and have requested a custom Progeny system as well. You can customize both systems, SABA you can do on your own once you have the general process. Progeny you can customize on your own but it would take creating a fairly complex back end (this is unnecessary to have in actual use). Potentially Rado will customize the system for you for a small fee using the system they have created.

To answer the direct comparisons, AS IS Progeny works although I will be much happier with my custom system, which will fit naturally with my presentation. There is no need for the creator of SABA to help in creating a custom SABA system once you know it, but working out the kinks will take a lot of potential failures, which the creator has worked out over many many performances for the system they have presented. To summarise, I will use SABA as is, but use a custom Progeny.

Since (of course) the scripts do the heavy lifting, it's difficult to say much without venturing into protected areas - but I can say that you could easily do one and then the other with the methods obfuscating each other. They are both surprising, both will get you (±90% of the time) to the thought in completely different ways, when you shouldn't genuinely have enough information to know it.

If you were to repeat either one for the same audience - as printed - then I'm sure a keen audience might notice similarities in the scripts. Knowing both would provide perhaps 10 minutes of a pretty insane experience for a group.