Smoke and Mirrors

uthor of the best selling book Impossibilia, John Bannon presents 31 amazing and entertaining tricks using cards and coins in Smoke and Mirrors.  The tricks are presented in a very practical and easy-to-follow  fashion, giving the reader everything necessary to perform the tricks  with perfection. A 164-page hardcover book, Smoke and Mirrors  is wonderfully illustrated by Richard Kaufman and rightfully belongs  among any magician’s collection of magic and trick references.

Contents:

9 Introduction (Simon Aronson)
11 Foreword

13 Heart of the City: a signed card appears in a sealed envelope that was on the table before the trick started.
20 Clock O `Doom: A card is selected from a small packet. This packet is  mixed face up and face down and then straightens itself out  triumph-style.  However the selected card has vanished.  It is then  found face-up in the face-down deck.
26 Shake Well Before Using: A full-deck Oil and Water routine.
29 One Is The Onliest: A one-coin routine with vanishes, productions,  transportations and transformations, ending with the coin in an  impossible location.
35 Fat City: A sandwich routine in which the whole deck except for the selected card teleports between the sandwich cards.
38 Tattoo You: A card is selected and is shown to have been predicted  before the selection.  The spectator’s signature then is visually pulled  from the selected card onto the prediction card.
44 Masquerade: Four jokers assemble in one packet then transform into the four aces.
51 Outer Limits / Beyond the Pale: A spectator thinks of a card and the performer names it.
59 Trick Shot Production: A billiard ball is produced from a card box.
61 (A Mystery On The) Aztec – Orient Express: a three-phase copper, silver, brass routine.
68 Strangers´ Gallery: A card is selected and shown to match three  prediction cards.  The backs of the prediction cards change to different  colors.  Then the entire deck changes color.
74 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Card Trick: A card is selected and returned  to the deck, the deck is placed back into the card box.  A razor blade  is placed into the card box and shaken, bits of cards fall out of the  box.  The selected card is shown to be the only survivor of the  massacre.
79 Single Bullet Theory: A production of an eight-ball sized steel ball bearing.
82 Reversal of Fortune: A selected card changes places with its corresponding Ace.
87 Boogie Woogie Aces: An ace assembly based on Kane’s “Jazz Aces.”
92 The Ace – Man Cometh: The performer attempts to cut to the four aces,  but fails repeatedly.  With each successive different card cut to, the  performer changes the cards to match the cut card.  In the end the cards  are changed to the four aces.
96 Hop Two It: A cards across effect.
102 Detour De Force: Two predictions are tabled and two cards are  selected in a very fair manner.  Two selections are made and the  predictions do not match.  The performer then shows that the predictions  do match in an offbeat way.
106 Directed Verdict: A spectator cuts to and turns over the four aces.
113 Duet To It: A wild-card type effect with multiple transformations.   In the end the cards change to match two previous selected cards.
118 Steel Convergence: An impromptu card stab effect.
122 OZ Deposit: A selected card is placed into an envelope and lit on  fire.   It transforms into a $100 bill.  The selected card is then found  in the performer’s wallet.
127 Return of the Magnificent Seven: A no gaff version of the Wild Card effect.
133 Ton – Toid: Two jokers and a queen are displayed, the queen changes  to a joker.  A second queen is removed from the performers pocket and  also transforms to a queen.  A third queen is shown and the packet with  the jokers transforms into the cards Ace Jack King and Ten to make a  royal flush.
138 Creased Lightning Again: A method for folding cards during performance.
141 Real Secrets: A card in the can effect with a twist.
144 Underhanded: A selected card is found under a glass that’s been in  full view on the table the whole time.  The card then is found under the  glass again under challenge conditions.
148 Vacuum Packed: A coin-in-bottle effect.  The coin is visually removed through the too-small neck of the bottle.
153 Vicious Rumors: A variation of the between the palms effect done between the spectators fingers.
157 Do the “Twixt”: Another variation of the between the palms effect.
160 Timely Departure: Three cards are selected and vanish from the deck.  They are then found reversed in the deck.