The Nine of Diamonds
Edited by Mark Beecham & Neil Stirton
Vanishing Inc.
The book contains a variety of effects, mostly with playing cards.
Some think of it as an unlucky card. Some know it as "the curse of Scotland." Tarot readers believe it to be the card of bias. It's an image that's used in Coats of Arms which are centuries old.
And to this group of magicians, it's one of the most beautiful cards in the deck.
Sleights and Techniques
- Reguritator Revelation - a novel card revelation
- Touch Reverse - unpublished Jack Parker move for switching and reversing a selected card
- Angled Afterburner - Jason Alford's fantastic control
- Plate Clip Displacement - method to displace a card in a spread on top of a deck to any location in the pack
- FIRP - Gary Goldberg's obscure method of reversing a card during a faro shuffle
- Popout Pass Revelation - a classic pass variation where a card pops out from the side of the deck
- Third Finger Crease Grip - method for replacing breaks held in a small packet
- Fiend Stack - how much can you cram into a stacked deck
- Bart Harding Stack - details on the calculated deck of Bart Harding, courtesy of Alan Shaxon
- Himber Vanish Variation - clean vanish of a coin
- Jack's Departure from the Stage - convincing new approach to 'Point of Departure'
- Amass Aces - a beautifully choreographed collectors routine
- Regurgitator - two cards "barf up" a selection
- Radical Decency - two Jokers visually transform into two selected cards
- Still Smiling - a new handling of a Roy Walton classic
- Frankenstein's Bunny - four beautiful assistants help find a lost pet rabbit
- A Small Price to Pay - a coin trick with three perfect predictions
- Quick n Dirty Three Fly - coins across routine based around a new sleight
- Quick n Dirty Hanging Coins - you'll swear trick coins are used, but not so
- Zen Stack - hailed as the very best stack using Zenner (ESP) Cards
- I Don't Trost You - a spectator deals herself four Aces from a deck shuffled by multiple spectators
- Buckley's Angels - new take on an Arthur Buckley miracle that'll blow your audience away
- Another Flippin' collectors - a technicians approach to the Collectors plot
- Sesame Street - A version of "do as I do" that will leave a lasting memory in the spectators minds
- Lazy Man's Memory Test - astounding performance piece with a deck of cards
- Two Faced Mother FIRPer - a magician fooler that will have them cursing you
- Any Card at Any Number - amaze your fellow magicians, bore your friends!
Reviews
(Top ▲)
There's a lot of stuff in this book . . . everything ranging from card tricks to coin tricks to ESP card stuff. It's a decent price for what you're getting. There's a nice range of card moves and card effects. There are some utility moves that I think will find their way into many repertoires out there.
I also found the ESP Stack and the full deck stack of interest. The book is well put together and has pretty much every "story" ever told about why the Nine of Diamonds is cursed. Those made for nice little breaks between sections. As you can see in the ad copy, there's a lot of stuff in this book. The odds of something appealing to you are pretty good.
I will say that some of moves are pretty intense and the description to perform them was not exactly easy to read. Also, in the coin section, there really wasn't anything revolutionary. Basically you're getting the authors' handling on classic effects (e.g., Three Fly & Hanging Coins). There was a kind of cool mentalism prediction effect using coins that was a little bit different. Most of the "new" stuff is found in the card section, particularly the sleights/moves that are taught. The effects themselves are pretty standard/common effects. This book didn't blow me away, but it's well written, has a fair amount of new ideas and some decent takes on some old ideas. If you're a card move guy, you'll definitely want to pick this up. If you're more of a mentalist type of performer, you really should consider it for the mem deck (The Bart Harding Stack - a Calculated Stack), esp stack and the coin effect, A Small Price to Pay.
Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of Gem.
(Top ▲)
This is definitely for experienced magicians, or those with a good library at hand. There are plenty of references and credits for you to follow-up on, and while most sleights are minimally described, some of the routines will have you breaking out Card College and other reference material. For example, one neat routine by Mark Beecham (Frankenstein's Bunny) uses the following: Angled Afterburner, Plate Clip Displacement, Elmsley Count, Larreverse, Charlier Cut, Touch Reverse, Braue Reversal, and the Tamariz Perpendicular Control. Whew!
Although The Nine of Diamonds is not inexpensive, it's a nicely produced book, it's well written, and if you actually work though the material with a deck or coins in hand, you'll get a lot more enjoyment than most similarly priced DVDs.