talkmagic.co.uk

Please note: this is a very long and detailed review, the product of a month's writing on-and-off... as such it's probably best read only if you have a sincere interest in buying this book!

The Award-Winning Magic of John Cornelius By Lance Pierce

Available from Alakazam/Elmwood Magic

Price £39.49/$45.00

Difficulty It varies, all the way from a two to a four I would say.

Description
"There is no hyperbole in the title of this book, as much of the magic contained here gained its John not only accolades from his peers, but one him one of magic's highest honors-a world prize at F.I.S.M.-as well as being the only American to win the World Championship in Magic in two different categories and the only person to win the International Brotherhood of Magicians Creativity Award three times!

Thomas Edison, who knew a thing or two about the subject, said that genius was one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. In The Award Winning Magic of John Cornelius, genius is apparent at every turn of the page.

John Cornelius is one of magic’s most innovative performers and inspired inventors and his effects and routines are in use by magicians the world over. In this long-anticipated book, author Lance Pierce explains John’s magic in meticulous detail, covering everything from legendary effects such as "Marked For Life," "The Fickle Nickel" and the ingenious "Shrinking Card Case" to every last nuance of John’s world-championship winning card act, "Every Card Trick In The World In Ten Minutes."

More than just a magic book, The Award-Winning Magic of John Cornelius is a journey into the mind of one of the foremost magical thinkers of our time, a man many have hailed as a creative genius.

Hardbound with Dust Jacket, 192 pages, fully photo-illustrated."

Review
Well, it's a book I've mentioned a few times on there forums with comments about just how good it is, but I thought that it was about time I reviewed this gem.

First things first the chaps and chapesses at L&L Publishing have produced a lovely book here. It's a nice hardback with sturdy paper and quality printing, however it has one of those dust-jackets which catches every finger print which is a shame. There are copious text-accompanying black and white photographs within which although not brilliant quality are nonetheless quite clear and sufficient.

That done, let's open the book and begin, as they say, at the beginning...

After a Foreword by author Lance Pierce in which he regales an anecdote or two about Mr. Cornelius (which sets the tone of the book very nicely) we come to:

Bits
It's a fine line I'm walking here as if I were to say too much about the effects it could kinda tip the method, so forgive the somewhat vagueness here.

The first item is a very nice utility piece which coin workers - especially exponents of things like Coins Through the Table - will find useful; it's very easy to make and frees your hands up for such routines, allowing a cleaner handling and effect. When you read this you'll start to get a sense of just how ingenious and abstract Mr. Cornelius's thinking can be at times...

Next we move to two effects with business card, one a novel take on the classic 'Business Card Printing' and the other a simple bit of mental magic with them. Both require a certain type of business card, but if you like these (and they sure are an effective way in which to hand out your cards) it will be worth the effort.

The next one will excite card workers - imagine if you could have a card freely selected and returned to the deck and, without seeing the faces of any of the cards or any sneakiness you know the identity of the card. It's a lovely utility idea, and a lot of people I imagine will already have the necessaries for this. There may be some work required, but it's very small. If you don't, well, it's something to bear in mind. I really wish I could say more about this, but it's very hard not to tip the method. So I'll hush and we'll look at the next piece...

If you wear a jacket you will have a simple method (which does not require you to carry anything extra around) which will give you a direct way of handling effects such as card to mouth, production of a LARGE glass of water from your pocket and a beautiful and very simple way of performing Vernon's Travellers (this requires a Topit) - amongst others.

The final effect of the selection is one for the rope workers. I don't perform any rope magic myself, so cannot really comment too much on this suffice to say that it is a nice way of magically fusing two pieces of rope together before separating them again.

Moves
Here we have a very nice collection of controls, flourishes and colour changes! Included is Cornelius's take on stealing a card from a fan which is very nice but will, as you might expect of this kind of move, require some practice.

Next up is a very visual change of a face-up playing card - you flick it to the table and it visually changes. Pretty simple to do but will require practice to get everything smooth.

There's a version of the Mercury Fold which I imagine a lot of performers who have played around with cards for a while will have come up with, or something similar at least, but it's nice to have all the details fleshed out here should you have become stuck with any part of it. The one here is easier than said move, but not quite as direct.

A very nice way of peeking a card in a pack which, although unnecessary a lot of the time, is useful for the kind of effect that is described here.

Then there are two flourishes, one pretty damn hard (though probably nothing for XCMers) and one pretty damn easy; take your pick, both look nice!

Then there is a False Shuffle which is nice but again probably something anyone who has played around with cards for a while has come up with themselves.

A lovely move follows which you've probably seen done before - that one where the top card leaps into the air, turning face-up before landing on top of the deck? It's here, and it's pretty simple although some practice and knack will be required to get it looking perfect.

A nice - but not for the beginner - colour change follows before this section finishes with a very clever switch of a packet of cards.

Casual Interfaces
Here we begin with a simple but pretty nice mixture of an old-stunt and some lateral thinking which will enable you to turn a few quarters into a handful of pennies: apparently in mid-air. It's hard to say too much about this one but it is cute, care needs to be taken with the handling though otherwise things could all fall apart.

Next up is a simple but nice effect in which a cocktail sword penetrates a cocktail straw beneath a handkerchief - unharmed, of course. What's more, the participant actually feels the moment the penetration occurs (:shock:).

There's also a very clever and very fair means of achieving the classic Wizard effect - some knowledge of simple technology is required, and this means it can only really be done at your home. It's a very interesting idea, but modern technology provides simpler alternatives.

There's a way of performing the Glorpy effect without the need for a special handkerchief (but it's not impromptu - the effect is eerie though); a simple but effective rising card which is pretty easy to do followed by a coin assembly using a gaff and some cards (and some very neat handling); 'Bluff Poker' is a bit of a duffer bringing nothing really new to the table and it doesn't have a definitive finish either - with a bit of tweaking you'll probably have something which is effective but nothing really brilliant.

Finally we come to Cornelius' classic 'Marked for Life' in which four cards turn face-up one-by-one (think 'Twisting the Aces'), before all turning face-up in an instant and changing their back colour/appearance. Okay, it sounds pretty standard but it's a lovely bit of magic which plays well and gets great reactions, incorporating a nice hook and offering a nice resolution presentation-wise, too. It does however require a card gaff, but nothing which isn't common so that shouldn't be a problem.

The John Cornelius Card System
Now this is an interesting feller. It's a nice, well-thought out system but there are a few holes in it which makes for some risky performing. It was my favourite system until I began using Osterlind's BCS which I feel offers a more complete system which is a bit easier to work in performance that the Cornelius CS.

Everything is explained in copious detail however, and it is certainly well worth having a play around with it to see if it suits you or not.

The accompanying routine is a nice bit of mental-magic too which you can apply to other card systems.

More Bits
The first piece of this section is one of my favourites of the entire book and represents some beautiful thinking and will allow you to have cards and even the deck travelling to your pocket... words can't do this justice, just trust me - if you like 'card to pocket' kind of effects, you will love this.

A classic principle with a new twist allows for the safe disappearance of a lit cigarette; followed by another brilliant piece of lateral thinking which you've probably seen demonstrated here there and everywhere else - it's another cigarette vanish but this one is a beauty: in your hands, in short sleeves - heck, you could do it naked - such a lovely bit of magic. This concludes the duo of cigarette magic.

There are some applications of flash paper which are nice but if you've worked with it before and toyed with it you've probably hit upon some similar applications of it.

Lastly we come to an interesting means of disappearing an item very fairly which draws on a few basic principles. It requires the wearing of a jacket or coat or some such, but for formal performances it is a nice bit to have set-up.

Formal Miracles
Another rising card (not impromptu, but damn impressive) kicks off this section - it's a method you've probably encountered before, and its inclusion here suggests that this was the original method which has been bandied about since then. Easy to do but very startling.

"Meta-Fusion" is a beautiful transformation of one silver coin into two copper ones. It's designed for a seating performance but can easily be adapted for standing and is very clean and easy for anyone with some experience of coin magic.

A means of determining what denomination of money is handed to you (and so not too suitable for British money) followed by a serial revelation comes next, swiftly followed by a detailing of a shrinking card case which is ingenious in design and oh-so-easy to do, but best suited as an opener.

Then we come to a lovely vanish of a coin entitled "Slow-Motion Fadeaway". No fuss, no muss, no clothing needed - just a coin and two hands and you will have a cunning and very fair disappearance and reappearance of a borrowed coin. It's not too difficult, but putting everything together and getting a good sense of the angles (very limiting) will be required for a deceptive and enchanting performance.

"The Jawbreakers" is a novel effect in which three orange balls disappear only to reappear in the box they came in (which was previously seen to be empty). It again is designed for a seated performance but is adaptable with a little bit of work. It didn't blow me away but given the right environment it would play well.

A bill routine follows, beginning with a teaching of the classic Klause switch taught in good detail and an effect full of changes and fire following. This is one which you won't be performing all the time given the amount of set-up, but save it for those special moments and you'll be playing with a winner here.

There is an okayish non-gaffed handling of a previously-marketed effect: it's all right, but nothing brilliant. The next piece, however, I absolutely love using two borrowed rings. Very clever, impressive and a lot of fun.

The penultimate effect is perhaps Cornelius's most famous marketed effect: The Fickle Nickel. You've surely seen this one performed before for it is one of the best IMO vanishes of a coin - in short sleeves, no pulls and absolutely fair. It is a little bit finicky however and certainly not suitable for all performing environments and requiring a lot of practice.

Take a deep breath and prepare for a shock for the closing effect of this chapter: "The Ball, The Bowl, and the Big, Big Cake" is an incredible rendition of the Benson Bowl routine which concludes with the appearance of a cake which increasingly grows in size. Copious instructions on the cake's construction are concluded and I can see it being a show-stopper - but be warned: it requires a lot of work to be put into it.

Speaking of a lot of preparation and effort we now make our way to the final chapter:

The F.I.S.M. Act
Here it is - the famed and legendary "Every Card Trick in the World in Ten Minutes" which won Corenlius the Gold Medal at F.I.S.M.. It's all explained here, and though as the book says you probably won't perform it as a whole, there's plenty to draw upon here, both in terms of idea, methods and structure: a lot can be learned from this.

Some Videos
Here are some videos I encountered on Youtube of some of the effects: none have any correct exposure in the comments or are linked to any exposure videos, but I will be checking up on them every now and then and should such matters have changed I will take down these links!

Hopefully they will go some way to showing you just how brilliant the magic contained within this book is.

Enjoy!

Shrinking Card Case

Marked For Life

The Fickle Nickel

Final Words
This is an excellent book. You will have no problems learning the material contained within and is there a lot of material! This is a book which embodies the majority of a magic legend's creativity and it's well worth picking up just to be inspired by the lateral thinking John often employs when creating an effect. You will also probably end up adding a few pieces to your repertoire as well and considering that several items in here are marketed individually, for the price (I picked mine up for about £25!) this is a brilliant buy.

Very highly recommended.

9/10

Dam you Cardza... dam you!!

I have enough material to last me for another year or so, I don't need this book.

But I want it and I get paid tomorrow

To be fair though it does seem like a book every cardie could do with in their collection. Now where did I put my card.

Hehe

It's a very mixed bag of effects and Marked For Life is my favourite packet trick.

You could try The House of Magic (UK) first of all to see if they've got any in stock, that's where I picked mine up for such a bargain price. It's not listed on their website but then what's listed on their website is not the shop's entire stock .

I had a look about there but Alakazam seem to be the best option. I think I'll hold of for a bit and see if I can get a bargain.