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Website should be working just fine...

http://michaelpaulmagic.com/instantdownloads.htm

Thanks for the conversion rate info, that's a big help. I think the paypal screen also does a conversion for you too.

Show No Mercy by Michael Paul
$20 From www.michaelpaulmagic.com/instantdownloads.html

Pre-Amble
I have to say that I am normally quite dubious about buying manuscripts like this, where the author gives out free copies in return for a review. After all how can we honestly trust a review from someone who has been given the item being reviewed for free? The chances are pretty high that they will say something nice regardless of what they genuinely believe.

And yet, regardless of that I found myself somewhat drawn to this one anyway.

Perhaps it was the mention of Craig Browning writing the forward, after all anyone that knows of his writing (check out online visions if you don’t know who he is) will know exactly how straight talking Craig is. I certainly couldn’t imagine him giving platitudes, or even agreeing to write a forward for something that he didn’t like. The other indication of how good it could potentially be was of course the movie clip. Whatever else you believe it was clear from that that if nothing else Michael Paul is a professional magician who audiences find very entertaining.

So, I succumbed to my CUPS addiction and bit the bullet.

The Review
Actually I never intended to bother writing a review. After all, why should I? I didn’t get a freebie. However I decided that wasn’t the attitude to take. It is not in the spirit of things and besides if I say nice things, there is always a chance that Michael will bear me in mind for his next release (If only the world worked that way).

I have rated all the effects on the following scale. You have to appreciate though that I have no great skill in the card sleight department.

1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

That wasn’t a review at all. This though, IS a review

To start off with I like the way that the manuscript is written. I like the intermittent essays. I like that each effect is split into a What, Why, When and How section, but liking that isn’t enough. What are the effects like?

1. Flicker. Difficulty 3
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
I say three as a sleight is used, but to be fair it is one of the easier ones.

A Red backed card flickers between red and blue, before finally stopping on red.

This is an interesting idea. Actually something the innovative Zach Allen might have come up with, but sometimes these ideas are better in print than they are in reality, so how does it actually play.

Well, as you asked so nicely. It is surprisingly magical. It’s the sort of effect that you even impression yourself with, which doesn’t happen that often because as I mentioned before, I’m not the best cardician in the world. This though is very nice, the more I do it, the better the reactions get and the more I want to try it with the next group. This works very well as an opener, just because it is a real attention grabber.

Michael also has some nice afterthoughts for this. In fact it is probably the depth he goes into that makes me like the manuscript so much.

2. The Candy Opener. Difficulty 3.5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
A three for the same reason as flicker. Nothing advanced though, but perhaps a little more is happening than with the first effect. (Hence the 3.5)

With a blinding flash the magician produces a small wrapped sweet, then with apparently no moves at all the sweet disappears from the wrapper and appears in the magicians mouth.

This one is a good opener (Michaels words not mine). Actually it isn’t a bad effect at all, just not one that I personally see myself performing.

It does have all the criteria of a good working magicians opening effect though. After all an object is appearing, disappearing and reappearing in an unexpected place, and most importantly fire is involved. If you have ever seen a Scott Creasey or Russ Stevens lecture you will know that fire is of course paramount to a good effect, after all, everyone knows that lay people love flashy magic.

3. That’s not Magic. Difficulty 0
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
It’s an essay for goodness sake. Not an effect. How difficult can it be!

Well it made me smile (eventually). He starts by implying that Magic should be pure, without the use of Jokes, Patter, Flourishes, Rapport and even being English (what’s wrong with being English!) and then the penny drops and you realise that there is a little bit of tongue in cheekness occurring. Ahh Mr. Paul, you are a one.

4. Flashes and Ashes. Difficulty 1.5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Nothing to it. It doesn’t get a one though as it doesn’t happen all by itself!

A playing card is selected, signed and hidden in a row of other cards. The rest of the deck is placed face down and a small piece of tissue (yeah, right) is placed on top and set a light. There is a brief flash (Didn’t see that one coming) and the deck now reveals the position of the signed card.

Well to be honest I loved the idea for this. Not something I had come across before so I thought it was quite refreshing. The effect itself was ok. Nothing too special but I can definitely see myself coming up with my own routine that uses the sneaky secret. So this was well worth including.

This and Flicker have caused me to run out of my vast supply of Flash paper though.

5. Changing the Change. (another Essay)

The premise of this essay is that sometimes the throw away material we do is for laypeople some of the strongest magic they ever get to see. How right you are Michael. These ramblings make the reader take stock and consider the impact that magic has and reminds us to take advantage of those unexpectedly exceptionally good reactions.

6. Reality Displacement. Difficulty 4
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Possibly even a 4.1

A card is selected, signed and then pushed back into the centre of the deck by the magician. Before being fully pushed back in it can be clearly see that it is half way in the deck as the face of the card is still visible. Then as it is finally pushed all the way in the magician immediately shows the signed card is once again in his hand

This is one of the effects shown on the demo video and after I read it at first, it sounded a little too clever-clever for me. Having said that I still wanted to be able to do it and now I feel the clever-clever aspect is exactly how it should be played.

If you have seen Garrett Thomas’s superb Ring Thing DVD, then you will remember that is the presentation he had for one of the moves. He claimed to have entered a magic competition for speed magic, and then demonstrated how he won the competition. Well I can see that this could get audible wows if played that way.

I can’t claim to have heard these wows myself as I haven’t performed it yet. It’s going to take me a little more practice to get it right. (I did say I was a klutz with cards if you remember). However I reckon it will be worth the effort.

I also think there is potential for it being part of an ambitious card routine but until I can do the basic move I won’t know for sure what other potential is possible.

7. Visual Coins Across (2 Effects). Difficulty 3.5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

The first coin visibly melts away only to reappear in the spectators hand with an audible clink. The second defect is Four coins in the spectators hand, they give you one. It disappears and then reappears back in the spectators hands.

I’m probably not the best person to review this one. Coins scare me. Always have done. I don’t mean like in Chrematophobia kind of a way. That would just be ridiculous. I mean more from a magical point of view. The other reason I shouldn’t really review this one is I didn’t have the gimmick needed to pull it off.

Actually. If I am really honest, I’m not sure I have the balls to pull off one of the moves either. ARE YOU KDDING MICHAEL? YOU DO WHAT?

Ok. I’ve calmed down now and made myself a cup of tea. Tea is good. Tea doesn’t have any big surprises in it. Tea doesn’t ask your spectators to do dangerous things.

Well. Michael you will be please to know I have now ordered one of those pesky things needed for this effect. I am not saying for sure that I will end up doing it, but it has made me want to give it a go. I mean really? You think I could get away with that? That would be so beautiful if it works. I love magic that makes me smile inwardly, and I think that this could be one of those occasions.

Having said that, I haven’t done any real coin magic for a while now, so it’s going to take me a while to brush up on a few things, but I reckon there could be a really good basis for a genuinely entertaining coin routine here. After all I now already have two good effects.

Rating.
Overall: 9/10, Value for money: 8/10

Bottom Line.
There are some seriously good ideas in here, and I can do nothing but thoroughly recommend it.

I know I only gave it 8/10 for value for money, but I don’t see that as a bad score. We should bear in mind that the going price for a good magic book these days is anything upwards of £30, so that puts the asking price a little more in perspective. Having said that I still feel it could be a little less (but then I just want everything to be as cheap as chips).

So what else has this fella done?

bananafish wrote:I have to say that I am normally quite dubious about buying manuscripts like this, where the author gives out free copies in return for a review. After all how can we honestly trust a review from someone who has been given the item being reviewed for free? The chances are pretty high that they will say something nice regardless of what they genuinely believe.

Believe me, I never do this. I write my own opinions, good or bad, and don't let how I get it affect the review.

Believe me, I never do this. I write my own opinions, good or bad, and don't let how I get it affect the review.

Cardza - I believe you - it was partially your review that promted me to buy it anyway.

Oh, okay then .

Thanks for the really nice reviews!!! I guess lots of magicians liked the material... I just found out that "Show No Mercy" is one of the top 5 best selling e books in any catagory on the "payloadz" site.

I can access the website - but cant find any links to click on - it says to click on the title of the effect but these are just text and not links.

Am I being thick by missing the obvious?

Rob

Rdw1971 wrote:I can access the website - but cant find any links to click on - it says to click on the title of the effect but these are just text and not links.

Am I being thick by missing the obvious?

Rob

Just go to http://michaelpaulmagic.com/instantdownloads.htm

Then click on whicheve product you are interested in, Simply Devastating, Show No Mercy, or Risen. Then go all the way to the bottom and click the buy now button if you'd like to purchase it.

Anyone here this week's episode of gomagicgo???? Show No Mercy was reviewed there (how exciting!).

you can hear the episode by downloading it from here:
http://www.gomagicgo.com

Also, anyone who had intended on picking up these notes may want to do so in the next couple of days, as the notes will be discontinued in the coming week.

Mike

Why is that?!?!?