Life, Death and Other Card Tricks by Robert E. Neale

Details: Life, Death & Other Card Tricks by Robert E. Neale: Over 60 New Presentations with Normal Playing Cards, 441 Pages – 164 Illustrations – Hardcover In Robert E. Neale’s world playing cards appear, vanish, turn over, multiply, change and identify themselves to the magician, all in very mysterious ways. But if that were all they did, this book would be little different from hundreds of others on card tricks.

What is unique in Robert E. Neale’s world is that, while the cards do all these things they also tell stories, arouse emotions, explore the mysteries of life and death, and leave their viewers feeling just a bit altered by the experience. These are card tricks that entertain in ways that are rare and fascinating. If you think card tricks are boring, Robert Neale’s approach will show you how to put entertainment, emotion, and meaning into your card magic.

More than sixty tricks and routines. He borrows from jokes, urban legends, world literature, gambling, religion, movies, and current events and uses the cards as actors to bring these mysteries alive. You’ve never read a book on card magic like this before.

Contents:

vii Preface
vii When Is a Card Trick Not a Card Trick?
x Abstract and Symbolic Presentations
xii Less Trickery and More Magic

1 Chapter I: Jokes
3 Fly Sport: Dai Vernon’s Twisting the Aces in a Samurai competition
10 Coincidence on Thirty-fourth Street: using Max Holden’s Criss-cross force
13 Three Endings for a Ghost Story:
13 – First Ending, A Man, a Woman and Two Doors: one card of two vanishes between a sandwich
16 – Second Ending, Jack-in-the-Vault: another story with a similar plot
19 – Third Ending, Jack Sandwitched: one more
23 Pass It On: the magician passes on a curse with a stacked deck
27 Sailor’s Vision: an off-color joke as a card trick

35 Chapter II: Chance Destinies
37 S/He Loves Me…: old flower poem as a card trick
41 – Second Version
44 One Loves Me, Maybe…: a more “modern” version
50 The Five Gifts of Life: choosing death, riches, fame, love or pleasure
55 Micawber: Twisting the Aces to the message of hope
63 Twin Fate: a You Do as I Do effect
71 Death Does a Card Trick: an unusual card revelation
77 Card Dice
78 – Introduction to Construction: constructing the cardboard die
83 – The Uncut Version
84 – Money In the Bank: a bank-nite presentation
86 – Zeroed: card revealed in die predicts result
87 – Miko: using Harold Sterling’s 3 1/2 of Clubs gag card
88 – Too-Way: uses a reverse-color card for a two-way prediction
89 – Fortune Dice: another bank-nite type presentation
90 – More: additional thoughts

93 Chapter III: Short Tales
95 Who’s in Bed?: a card change
100 Lost in the Fog: Queen and King turn face up and vanish in this story
104 Crystal: One card resembles three others, then becomes unique; uses Elmsley count
108 Unaware: cards turn face up and face down in this story of fate
111 William Wilson: duplicate card appears in vanish, in a story based on an Edgar Allan Poe’s story
112 – Alternative Approaches
114 The King That was Not: A King appears and vanishes in a packet of cards
117 Once and Former King: another King packet trick
118 – Four-Card Routine
119 – Six-Card Routine
121 The Smiling Queen: a color change
127 Penthouse: a card vanishes, around a story of the 13th floor
130 – Basic Routine
132 – Penthouse With a Double-Faced Card
136 Thirteen at Table: a sort of 13-card repeat
143 Survivor: only one card survives the elimination
147 Perfected Segregation: a gender and sexual orientation based effect
153 Fable: with a concentration camp poem
162 Discussion of a Card Trick: Temple Patton’s Counterespionage
163 – Patton’s Effect
164 – Discussion of the Three Moves and Alternatives
170 – Presentation
172 – Characters and Meanings
173 – Outline for a Presentation, World of Chance
174 – Scenario for a Presentation, The God’s Toy
178 The Convergence of the Twain (Joseph Fraher): the events of the Titanic

185 Chapter IV: Gambols
187 Wanting to Win: a poker deal with four spectator’s winning
193 – Addendum, Beat the House
195 Six-card Deal: Magician wins a 3 card poker hand
198 W. C.’s Hand: a variation of the six-card repeat
206 Casino: A Casino Kid gambling demonstration
213 The Probability Pack: a lesson in probability, and the Gilbreath principle
221 The Game of Ten: magician always wins the game
225 Picking Winners at the Track: the cards represent a horse race, with the predictions correct

233 Chapter V: Odd Notions
235 A Trick for Children and Intelligent Adults: packet trick to “the man who wasn’t there” poem; uses Elmsley count
237 Seeing What Seems: what two spectator’s see isn’t constant
241 Some of the Truth: another spectator observation test
246 Sleeping Brawn: a card trick for couples
252 Whose Dream?: Jack vanishes and appears with a Poem
256 A Horrible Hand: cards keep changing in a packet
264 The Joker Solution: another story using a Twisting the Aces approach
267 A Room for Death: a packet trick themed around Death staying at an Inn
271 The Devil and His Disciple: a spelling card match
276 Jesus Loves Me: self working Gospel card trick for R. Sid Spocane II
281 The Good Shepherd: spectator spells to the lost sheep (card)
286 Black Magic: a card changes value in the spectator’s palm
290 His Best Friend: card sandwiched is found to be a 2nd selection
294 Immortal: selection vanishes from deck to be found at determined number

301 Chapter VI: Strange Sagas
303 The Suicidal King: with a Pinochle deck
311 The Kind and Gentle Stranger: one card keeps coming back and replacing the others
316 Four Brothers: a packet story with the Four Kings
330 Love’s Labour’s Found: a love story based on Carter/Eason’s Anniversary Waltz
339 – Short Routine: a shorter version
340 Forever Friends: a Nazi Germany story with a transposing drawing on one of the cards
346 The Ultimate Cal: a story-line around a computer dating machine

357 Chapter VII: Stacks
359 Straight from Hell: a spelling trick to escape from Hell
364 The Arrangement: a story about order and disorder
369 Prime Choices: a stack of 13 cards and variations
376 Death in Its Place: presentation for the stack
380 Easy Elimination: discussion of various card eliminations
385 – Down And Under Number Deal
385 – Less Predictable Stacks
388 The Position Proposition: stack where only one card lies at its value when packet is cut
394 Invitation to the Dance: ordered cards are mixed and return to order

• Publisher: Hermetic Press
• Pages: 402
• Location: Seattle, USA
• Dimensions: 6″x9″
• Date: 2000
• Binding: hardbound

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