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As almost none of you will know, my debut eBook is being released tomorrow. It contains six effects from my repertoire as well as an essay and some other thoughts.

The contents are:

Both' Selections! (A Two Selection Routine)
A hard hitting routine where two spectator's selections transform into each other, jump to packets and finally to a compartment in a wallet. A highly commercial opener with no set up.

T to the Three
A three phase, in the spectator’s hands, transposition routine. The spectator and magicians cards twice switch places. The spectator then names any 4 of a kind to act as body guards. The spectator’s card is clearly placed face-down between two of the four of a kind and all three cards placed under her hand. The same is done to the magician’s card, however with a wave of his hands the cards once again switch places, the bodyguards proving ineffective.

The Guinness Self-Indulgently Titled Almost Certainly Unoriginal Almost Burnable Top Change
Does exactly what it says!

Face Up Transpo
A simple transpo with a twist: the magicians card stays face up the whole time!

Card Under Spectator
A card is freely selected and signed. The deck is handed to the spectator for shuffling. They pass the deck around to make it even harder for the poor magician. The magician takes the deck off the spectators and makes a magic move. The magician informs the spectator it would now be impolite and possibly result in a sexual assault law suit if he revealed their card, due to the fact they are currently sitting on it. The startled and slightly aroused spectator stands up and removes a folded up card from under their *rse, they open it up and reveal their signed selection.

Polygraph
A practical twist on the Lie Detection plot based on a Lennart Green comedy routine of all things!

Subtle Trippery
The performer removes a stack of business cards and looks penetratingly at the spectator before placing one down on the table. The spectator is asked to relax and name any animal they want. The business card is turned over and matches the spectators named animal. The performer then explains exactly why he knew the spectator would choose that animal. Multiple repeat bookings ensue.

Bonus Essay
It's a bonus!

James Brown called it 'Excellent!' And with other reviews sure to be as positive I'm really proud of the material. It's going to sell for £10s on my website http://www.harrythemagician.ie (which needs an overhaul, I know!) from tomorrow.

However I'm holding this little competition to give away a free copy to someone! Entry closes at midday tomorrow (the 13th). All you have to do is tell me about the most ballsy trick you've ever done. The one I find best wins! Enter below...

Good luck with it Harry! I'll see if I can drum up some cash to place an order (and review it here!).

btw - I'm in Cork, next week - do you know of any magic clubs/shops in way down south?

cheers,

Sean

I have been lucky enough to see an early copy of this, and the material is very very good workable stuff.

Not complicated in any way just strong and visual routines.

I love Harry's style, it really makes interesting and funny reading.

I am looking forward to picking up the full Ebook.


Keep up the good work Mr Guinness.

Might as well get the ball rolling. While playing around with a deck, someone took the cards from me and spread them, asking if we could, in not so many words, do Out of This World, an effect she'd seen a month or so previous. The deck was well shuffled already, and I had little opportunity to spirit it away for a few much needed seconds, so I thought "hang it, let's just have it fail".

The deck was ribbon spread and separated into two piles. While this was going on a rather meagre plan formed, so on completion I took one of the packets and said "there ought to be 26 cards in this pile" and began to count them. I frowned, put them down, counted through the second packet, frowned again, and moved the packets across the table for inspection.

Somehow the packets were, indeed, separated into red and black, without a single mistake, and as she said at the time, I couldn't have sorted them out after the fact because she would have seen me do it.

I'll have a go - it wasn't so much ballsy as fortuitous but.....

I was performing at a corporate do for a very large software company and I had been asked to perform 'Labelled' as the MD had seen me do it before and liked it. (for the unintiated, this is Ben Williams' take on the signed-label-inside-sealed-bottle routine - I used to use 'Sprite' bottles because the signature showed up nicely on the label)

So, I was all set to go with set and sure enough at the end of the session the MD called me over to show his guests 'something special'. So I performed the trick and it all went swimmingly except.... it didn't impress his intended target - a very attractive young lady who looked singularly unimpressed and said "He could have had that bottle prepared before he even got here"

At which point, a young guy at the table said "No, that was my bottle, I just bought it from one of the vending machines before I came in so I could drink it on the way home." So we all looked at this guy (especially me, as I'd never seen him before in my life!) and eventually the young lady's icy stare broke and she became as impressed as everyone else. The young guy simply took the bottle, admired it and said "I don't think I'll drink it now. It'll look good on display at home".

I took the applause and made my exit and as I was leaving I spied an unopened bottle of Sprite that had clearly rolled off of a table and was nestling in the folds of one of the tablecloths! I snuck a quick look around, lifted the cloth and kicked it under the table...

Clearly no-one ever found it - I've been invited back to perform every year since!

Sean

There is this one pub where I often perform my table magic. In the pub are two barmaids who have seen me perform lots of times.

One evening, things were very quiet so for a bit of fun I told girl A that I was going to play a trick on girl B. I asked girl A to tell me something about girl B that I could not possibly know as I would attempt to read girl B's mind. I told girl A to play along and make her friend think it was real mindreading.

I did the pretend mind reading act and girl B was amazed that I really could read her mind.

Later on, I explained to girl B that while I could genuinly read her mind her friend (girl A) was not so easy to read and could she please tell me something about girl A that I could not possibly know so that I could pretend to read girl A's mind and she was to play along and make her friend think it was real mindreading.

I didn't think I would get away with it and could not believe it when girl A was actually amazed that I could read her mind.

for the next few weeks each girl would secretly tell me something about the other girl, but then each girl really thought I could read her mind.

It took quite a few weeks for the penny to drop. I could not believe how I got away with it for so long.

Well...

Like Klangster 1971 this was more lucky but...

I was with a girl and me doing magic came up. I don't like carrying around cards anymore like I used to but she demanded I read her mind. I told her to think of any animal she wanted. I thought, I'll most likely get it wrong as there are millions of possibilities.

So I looked into her eyes for about ten very quiet seconds and said an animal. This, was correct!


Another thing would have to be at my first magic show a few years ago, I saw David Copperfield perform his metamorphosis and, obviously thought it was amazing. So as my finale, I got a crappy fold up table on a homemade wood stage. The Table was covered in glass from a previous trick and I got a bedsheet, stood up on the table, and threw it into the air and my brother appeared on the table. The table fell and my brother rolled into the audience while the table covered in glass rolled after him; the table stopped at the edge of the stage while my brother recovered the performance by saying "He's not under the table". I proceeded to appear on the roof of my house completely unaware any of this had happened.

The second story not quite fitting the "rules" but I've always wanted to bring up this story.

My visits home by train gives me a good 50 minutes of doing nothing. Sadly, one evening I had forgotten my iPod and my computer's battery was flat. Undeterred by this, I reached into my bag, grabbed some bikes and started practising various moves on the table.

I will be the first to admit that I am not very good, but it didn't stop a teenage girl on the other side of the train aisle to smirk whenever I screwed up. After a good 20 minutes of being semi-silently laughed at, I thought "f(ork) it, I'm gonna upset her".

Bundled with my cards, I carry 2 cleaned 4" nails, tissues and a cleaning agent. I stared intently at one of the nails, inspecting it, showing it's not fake at all without directly acknowledging the young brat. She thought I was weird for inspecting the nail. I then started doing the Human Blockhead, using a deck as a hammer. Halfway in, instead of going into the usual spiel, I turn my head to unstiffen my neck, giving the excuse for the brat to see it really is going into my nose. She was mortified. A few knocks later, it's all the way in. At that point I turn towards the window, as the following happened...

Brat: "Mum! MUUM!"
Mother: (Looks up from newspaper) "Oh shush, you've been annoying me all day! Sit still!" (gives me a cursory glance, returns to the newspaper and puts some headphones on)

Just afterwards, I remove the nail, clean it, pack it away, and then return to practice.

She didn't smirk after that. Indeed, she backed against the carriage window as I got up to leave at my stop...


Not really a performance, but it entertained me at least, and all without being shouted at by her mother.

Review coming soon.

I've posted this before, but I thought I'd have a go and post it here too


Today I was doing a few imrpomptu tricks for some folks, with two friends as volunteers, just doing some improvised transpo's etc, nothing hugely special.

I had the two volunteers stand about five paces apart, facing each other. I told the one on my right that I was going to read his mind, and then the one on the left that I was going to project those thoughts to her.
So I had Spec A choose a card, fairly, and show it to the other people watching. I took the card back, culled it to the top and palmed it off, handing it to Spec B to shuffle, then place to one side. Whilst he shuffled it, I reached up, pretending to scratch the back of my head, and slipped the card under my baseball cap so that about half the card was visible on the back of my head.

So I move between the volunteers, keeping my front to A and my back to B and start ranting about "I can sense something, focus on the card, thats it Im starting to see it." It took the volunteer behind me a stupid ammount of time to realise that there was a card stuck to the back of my head, but in the end she got it, all looked very impressive to volunteer A whilst everyone is laughing.

Just to get them in on the joke, once it was over I said "See, wasn't that fun?" and turned to thank volunteer B so A suddenly sees his card sticking out of my hat.

Just home now after a * up. Competion extended til I get up!

Also, James Brown had this to say: "Excellent. Harry applies a great understanding of boldness and a 'just do it' attitude to his work - and he drinks like a fish too!"

And the competition is closed!

Some great entrances. However the winner has to be....


Discombobulator. PM me your email address and I'll send it over to you. The two bar maids thing is just brilliant!

Honourable mention to DenmarkKilo. Brilliant story! You can have a copy half price if you want. PM me to sort it.

And the website is now live:

http://harrythemagician.ie/magic.html

Please take a look!

Ok the competition is closed but I thought i'd post this anyway...

I was performing a few 'mental' card routines for some friends when an idea came to me. I said to person A on my left take a card but don't let anybody see it, they did that then replaced it (I controlled it to the bottom) I then turned to person B on my right and said... "your now going to read person A's mind, clear your thoughts and see (at which point I turned towards them lifted the deck to my forehead showing the bottom card and tapped it with my finger whilst giving them a little grin) 'that' card in your minds eye. Person B got the idea named the card much to everyone elses (apart from person B) amazement.

PM sent.

Thanks for selecting me - I was planning to buy the book anyway !

A recommendation from James Brown is quite something.

I'll do a mini-review when I receive the book.

Thanks again and best wishes.

Gordon

Got mine, cheers Harry! Looks good - will post review tomorrow.