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“Born A Freak” by Craig Petty

I am honoured to be reviewing this new book by Craig petty as it is an absolute Craker.

Price: £10

Release Date: Blackpool Magic Convention

Born A Freak is a collection of commercial close up routines for the working Performer.

Craig Petty;
“Those of you that have seen my work will know that anything I perform has to be practical to do in the ‘Real World’. For this reason you will not find any pipe dreams in the book. Everything can and should be used on real people. I tried to put a real mixed bag of routines together but all the routines have one thing in common – I have been used them for over 5 years to make my living.”

Content:

A sweet transpo
A packet of love hearts is shown and a one is taken out the packet. A coin is also introduced. The coin and the sweet keep changing places even when the coin is isolated in the performer’s pocket. As a kicker finish the performer places the coin and the sweet in the same hand and shows that the two items have fused into an impossible object.

My thoughts: This is a super effect which would be great for valentines or even for regular use as it is such a great take on the normal copper/silver routine with a killer finish.

Eagles are Better Than Pigeons
A pack of cards is shown. An invisible button is pressed on the top of the pack and a coin shoots out. The coin is examined and a card is selected and lost in the pack. The coin is made is vanish and reappear in the deck next to the card. This is repeated a second time. Finally the card is lost in the pack which is placed in the box. The coin visibly changes into a folded up card – the spectator’s selection! The box is opened and the coin is found in the middle of the deck.

My Thoughts: A great balance of coins and cards is achieved here and utilises the spectators hands which I consider to be very important in the real world.

Million Dollar Opener
The magician borrows a £5 note off a member of the audience. He explains he will turn it into a million pounds which they can keep. The £5 is covered with a handkerchief and held be the spectator. The magician lets the magic happen and the spectator looks inside the handkerchief. Inside is now a lottery ticket. The magician tells the spectator to use those numbers and on Saturday they will win a million pounds. The spectator is not impressed. The magician brings out a piece of paper and writes an I.O.U for £5.The spectator is still not impressed. The magi magically changes the I.O.U into the spectators £5 note.

My thoughts: This is another great effect which does what it says on the tin. And what spectator isn’t immediately impressed by fire.

East Meets West
A Chinese coin and a silver coin are shown and examined by the audience. The coins change places 4 times, each in a more baffling way. For the final fifth phase, the coins change places in the spectators hands – everything is once again examinable.

My thoughts: Another great take on the copper/silver routine where everything is examinable before and after the routine which is great. The final Phase uses the spectators hands which is another bonus to a great effect.

Monster Note Routine
The performer offers to tell a story of the time a trick he performed went really wrong. A business card is signed and left on the table. The magician borrows a £10 note and explains that he was performing about a year ago and the spectator was unhappy with the trick he performed. In order to explain he performs the same trick – changing a £10 note into a £50 note. The £50 note however is obviously a forgery but the magician is unable to understand why the spectator is upset. Continuing his story the magician explains that he was forced to write an IOU out for the £10 which he demonstrates by writing and signing an IOU on his business card. After some byplay the performer shows that the IOU has changed into the words ‘Never Trust a Magician’ and the business card previously signed has now turned into an IOU that the spectator has signed! The magician offers to reimburse the spectator by giving him a £10 note, which is obviously another forgery! The ending to the routines comes when the forgery of a £10 note is visually transformed into the spectators note.

My thoughts: This is a trick based around a story which is always good. Although it requires a lot of stuff to get it in motion it is well worth it and will get superb reactions from your audience.

Coincussion
3 coins are produced, vanished and reappear once again.

My thoughts: not being a massive coin man myself i don’t have the gimmick needed for this but once you get hold of the gimmick you will be performing this routine all the time.

The Prestige
A card is selected, noted and lost in the pack which is then given to the spectator to Shuffle. A stack of business cards are introduced and one card is signed by a spectator and placed in his wallet. Another business card is signed and the performer draws a little stickman on it. The spectator is told the magician is going to recreate one of the most famous illusions of all time – “The Teleporting Man”. The audience is told that the little stickman will vanish off the one signed card and 6ly invisibly onto the other signed card held by the spectator. As the stickman does this he will in a split second look through the deck of cards held by the spectator and 6ind the card that was selected. After some byplay the one signed card is shown – the stickman has vanished and when the spectator looks at the card in his wallet it has the little stickman holding the selected card. If the spectators were to look through the cards on the table they would find that the selection has gone.

My thoughts: This has to be my favourite trick of the book and is an absolute gem. A superb trick to get your business card handed out with an impossible feat of amazement. This is something that if I didn’t know the method and saw it then it would amaze me even as a magician and the principle is so simple aswell.

The World Famous Bullet Catch
A deck of cards is shown and split into two halves. The spectator picks a card to represent a bullet (lets assume it is an ace). This is shuffled into one of the halves by the spectator. Another card is selected, signed and shuffled into the other half. The audience is told this card represents the spectator who will now attempt the world famous bullet catch. The half with the spectators signed card is placed into the card box and held by the spectator. The magician takes the other half and pretends to fire
the bullet towards the card box. This half is spread face up to show the bullet card has gone. The cards in the box are taken out and spread face down to show the bullet card face up in the middle. The card next to the bullet card is the spectator’s selection. As a final kicker the cards are placed back into the box and three more invisible bullets are shot at the deck. When the cards are taken out and spread there are now four aces face up in the middle of the deck.

My thoughts: Craig certainly saved the best 2 till last in my opinion as this is also an incredible effect. It gets two spectators involved and operates on a great premise.

Overall: This is a great collection of material that everyone should put on their purchase list for Blackpool. There are a couple of tricks in the book that i would pay £10 for alone as they are perfect for real world performances be it walk around, restaurant or corporate magic. If you want to add some amazing but not overly difficult magic to your repertoire then you should definitely buy this book.

It will be available on disc at Blackpool and thereafter will be available as a pdf download from World Magic Shop.

Difficulty 3
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Many Thanks

Tom Procter

I have not had a chance to look at this yet, but sounds good from your review.

I got it free because I brought a few tricks off craig.

Will let you all know what I think when I have watched it.

But going by what I have seen Craig do I don't think I will be dissapointed.