New Karl Fulves Pubs

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Steve Bryant
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The Lowdown

Postby Steve Bryant » May 11th, 2016, 2:55 pm

Some of you are in for a big surprise in the mail. I'll merely titillate at this point. Details in a couple of weeks or until someone else spills the beans first.

I love magic.

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erdnasephile
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Re: The Lowdown

Postby erdnasephile » May 12th, 2016, 10:31 am

Hmmm...sounds exciting! Hope I'm on the list somehow!

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Bob Farmer » May 12th, 2016, 11:34 am

At last: the new David Harkey book!

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Gordon Meyer » May 12th, 2016, 1:54 pm

The final issue of Antinomy?

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Ted M » May 12th, 2016, 2:39 pm

Can't be the Braue Notebooks...

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Leo Garet » May 13th, 2016, 10:07 am

The real identity of Mister/Mrs/Ms Erdnase?

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby AJM » May 13th, 2016, 10:15 am

RK and Jerry Sadowitz are actually twins who were separated at birth?

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 13th, 2016, 10:19 am

Sod off, Andrew. :lol:
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby erdnasephile » May 13th, 2016, 7:43 pm

Gordon Meyer wrote:The final issue of Antinomy?


That would be great, as I really enjoyed that magazine. (I think there are supposed to be two issues left) http://antinomymagic.com/status.htm

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 13th, 2016, 8:03 pm

It's not Antimony.
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Re: The Lowdown

Postby erdnasephile » May 13th, 2016, 8:48 pm

Penumbra?

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Steve Bryant » May 13th, 2016, 9:16 pm

No correct answers yet.

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Ted M » May 13th, 2016, 10:39 pm

Karl Fulves post-Prolix project?

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Steve Bryant » May 14th, 2016, 12:41 am

Bingo! The primary magazine is The Lowdown. There will be 10 issues plus 10 supplements. The material was written in 2013, printed in 2015, and is now being distributed. The first batch included issues 1 of The Lowdown (32 pp), Errata (36 pp), Early Indications (material Karl developed from age 5 to 20, biography, etc 10 pp), and Folderol (Tricks with Flexagons, 10 pp) plus appropriate decks of cards, special paper, and gaffed cards for the tricks in these issues. I've read through most of it by now and found it strong and novel, and of course it is always a pleasure to sink into Karl's prose. I'll post more on Little Egypt Magic.

I have no idea if Karl wants or is taking new subscribers and cannot speak for him; I'm simply a fan. I didn't mean to be so mysterious, but wanted other subscribers to feel the happy surprise of the large package showing up.

BTW the NEXT day's mail was also delightful, containing Gene Anderson's new book. He definitely wants to get a copy in your hands, from his web site at geneanderson.com.

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby AJM » May 14th, 2016, 7:25 am

How does one contact Mr Fulves or get on his mailing list?

Cheers

Andrew

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby erdnasephile » May 14th, 2016, 9:44 am

Mr. Fulves is strictly old school when it comes to correspondence.

You can write him a letter (include a SASE) and ask for a list of current available titles:

Karl Fulves
PO Box 433
Teaneck NJ 07666
USA

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby AJM » May 14th, 2016, 10:26 am

Many thanks erdnasephile, I will give it a try.

Cheers

Andrew

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New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Matthew Field » May 14th, 2016, 10:36 am

Some of you know that I am a great admirer of Karl Fulves. A huge package arrived on my doorstep with 4 new manuscripts, 4 decks of Bicycle cards, and some other stuff I haven't opened as yet.

The main item is "The Lowdown", 32 pages and Karl writes that it will be 10 issues, each alternating with a separately issued manuscript on "overlooked but important subject[s]", 20 manuscripts in toto. Plus bonus material and apparatus, all included in the original price.

Having written that, it should be noted that there are 3 other titles included: "Folderol", tricks with flexagons; "Early Indications", tricks conceived when Karl was aged 5(!) to 20; and "Errata", which reprints previously published (and very hard to find) material from the Fulves archives which have relevance to the newly published stuff.

I hold Karl in the highest regard, and he has come through a very tough year for him with a bounty of material I can't wait to dig into, much more than what was offered or expected.

Matt Field

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Roger M. » May 14th, 2016, 12:21 pm

Not trying to be negative, but don't get your hopes up if you live outside the United States.

I live in Canada, and despite trying at least a half a dozen times (probably more, and always complete with SASE), I can't for the life of me get him to respond with further instructions as to how to subscribe to his assorted publications (where to send a cheque or money order, how much to send, etc).

It's a drag, because I'd really like to!!

I have all Karl's Riffle Shuffle books (acquired second hand), including the most difficult to get stuff ... and the quality of content he puts out is off the scale.

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Re: The Lowdown

Postby Leo Garet » May 14th, 2016, 12:38 pm

Mister Fulves does seem to have become more reclusive than ever in recent times. However, I found correspondence with him to be easy and a pleasure and not only when I was buying stuff.

This was a time when banks didn't quite charge the earth for "processing" international money orders. It was also years and years before the tinterweb raised its head.

I was, by choice, a latecomer to the charms of the web myself and never felt deprived.

Karl must be one of the few who's managed to maintain his resistance. Either that or he's galloping all over the web, but simply chooses to remain anonymous.

Whichever and whatever, more power to his elbow.
I live in England, by the way.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby M Helmer » May 14th, 2016, 1:04 pm

If you don't mind me asking, what is Karl's address?

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 14th, 2016, 1:16 pm

Karl Fulves
PO Box 433
Teaneck NJ 07666
USA
Subscribe today to Genii Magazine

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Brad Henderson » May 14th, 2016, 3:00 pm

I sent him a check a long time ago. Received the letter saying the project was taking longer than expecting. Is this THAT project?

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Evan Shuster » May 14th, 2016, 5:21 pm

Yup. I received the same message a little over a year after I had sent my check. He sent back the first check and requested a new one. As far as I can tell he never cashed the second one, and that was over a year ago, as well. Just to be on the safe side I sent another check today. Here's hoping that the third time is a charm. :)

Always excited for anything new from Mr. Fulves.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Evan Shuster » May 15th, 2016, 10:09 am

No sooner had I made my last post, and dropped another check in the mail, when the post office delivered a large package with a familiar return address sticker on it.

Very happily reading through it all this morning.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 15th, 2016, 12:24 pm

It is annoying how hard it is to get hold of his magazines.

I wonder if these magazines will ever be reprinted in the future as part of a bound compilation (as happened with Chronicles, Epilogue and The Pallbearer's Review)? Perhaps - in future - when the copyright is passed to his children, that might happen?

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby erdnasephile » May 15th, 2016, 8:16 pm

OK, I'm going to channel RogerM for a bit.

I enjoyed a lot of Pallbearers', Chronicles, and Epilogue (especially the issues dealing with the material from a single individual).

However, for some reason, when it comes to Mr. Fulves' own standalone manuscripts, I've often felt I had to wade through a lot of stuff to get to something I really wanted to use in performance. His tastes just don't seem to coincide with mine (Nothing wrong with that, and I mean no disrespect to Mr. Fulves--everybody's different).

That said, it's clear that he has many, many fans, and I might be missing something.

Fulves Fans, can you please tell me what you like about Mr. Fulves' material? Any particular favorites?

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Evan Shuster » May 15th, 2016, 10:27 pm

erdnasephile wrote:OK, I'm going to channel RogerM for a bit.


Fulves Fans, can you please tell me what you like about Mr. Fulves' material?


Yes, but why bother?

You’re clearly not a fan, and that’s fine, but why would I bother to justify the fact that I AM a fan of his work?

You like what you like. I like what I like.
No harm, no foul.

How ‘bout them Seahawks??? ;)


Respectfully,
Evan

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 15th, 2016, 10:49 pm

Yeah - most of Karl Fulves's work is not addressed to those looking for strong commercial magic. Although he definitely has an eye for this sort of thing. Particularly in the magazines when describing the work of others. One of his criteria for a good trick (and hence the sort of trick he would want in his magazines) is something that would play well in performance.

Magic is an unusual field. It is hard to guess a percentage - but it seems about 90% of what takes place in magic is a long way removed from the creation or performance of strong, commercial magic.

Magic is a field made up of dealers, performers, creators, historians, problem solvers, collectors, fans and beginners. And jugglers.

As such - a lot of the stuff in magic that people are most interested in is not directly related to the performance of strong magic for laypeople.

That may seem to strange to some. But then again - we already have enough strong magic to go round. So there is a place for those who want to experiment, research and expand the field of magic. In the hopes it will pay off in useful ways somewhere down the line.

I don't think there is a stronger card trick in magic than The Invisible Deck. So if all we are concerned with is strong magic - then most people's study of magic need not last longer than about a week.

So - yeah I can understand why some magicians would not enjoy the work of Karl Fulves. There are a lot of great resources for strong magic for laypeople. But with the work of Karl Fulves you will have to look hard for that type of thing. Although I feel that Chronicles and The Pallbearer's Review has a lot of good tricks that would play well to laypeople. If you are prepared to figure out an entertaining presentation for them.

Still - I would much rather look through Karl Fulves's work looking for entertaining magic than I would the work of Stewart James! Although to be fair to him - his spirit cabinet routine is a classic.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby erdnasephile » May 15th, 2016, 11:30 pm

Evan Shuster wrote:
erdnasephile wrote:OK, I'm going to channel RogerM for a bit.


Fulves Fans, can you please tell me what you like about Mr. Fulves' material?


Yes, but why bother?

You’re clearly not a fan, and that’s fine, but why would I bother to justify the fact that I AM a fan of his work?

You like what you like. I like what I like.
No harm, no foul.

How ‘bout them Seahawks??? ;)


Respectfully,
Evan


Hi, Evan:

I hear what you're saying--it's certainly a fair point. I was coming from a position of hoping to get a few nudges towards stuff people liked, so perhaps I might become more of a Fulves fan in time.

I've been guilty of prematurely judging material before, only to come to appreciate things later when someone has pointed me in the right direction. (Years ago, I asked that question about Marlo, and got some excellent responses that helped me appreciate his body of work.)

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 15th, 2016, 11:45 pm

Hey erdnasephile,

I recently went through The Pallbearer's Review and The Chronicles again. I kept notes of the tricks that caught my eye as well.

Let me know what your interests are, and I will give you some pointers. Are you a professional magician looking for new material for laypeople? Or do you have other stuff in mind as well?

Also - here is the thread I put together to discuss what I enjoyed about The Pallbearer's Review.

http://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=47930

Joe

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 15th, 2016, 11:52 pm

Just reading your post again - it seems the above may not be of much help since you already enjoy his magazines. And instead are looking to explore the ideas he has buried in his manuscripts.

Most of his manuscripts are devoted to cards. And I don't do card trick any more. So I am not the best person to ask about them. Although I agree they are addressed more to problem solvers in magic rather than performers.

That said - I think the Dover publications he has put out are the best way to get a good overview of his work. Although admittedly - a lot of the tricks in there are from other magicians. Also - one thing I noticed with the Charles Jordan book he put out is that he has a lot of superb variations of the Charles Jordan tricks in that book. There is some great thinking from Fulves in that book.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby erdnasephile » May 16th, 2016, 7:29 am

Hi, Joe:

I'll check out the Charles Jordan book--sounds interesting. Thanks!

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Roger M. » May 16th, 2016, 10:04 am

As a specific example, on some topics, those where Fulves develops a "theme", he tends to probe them far deeper than most, if not all, other authors of similar material.

Using Fulves Riffle Shuffle Series as an example, there is simply nothing else out there that can compare to the research Fulves has completed and published.
KF's Riffle Shuffle work is simply epic in its scope.

Not only does Fulves repeatedly demonstrate his own abilities as an author, but also demonstrates his impressive is his abilities as an editor.

From his practical "Riffle Shuffle Set-Ups" to his story based "Gamblers Third Lesson", there are additional 500 pages in the Riffle Shuffle Series between those two books that, as a whole ... singularly define riffle shuffle work.

He has hundreds of similar works, on dozens of assorted topics, all with various themes ... perhaps indicating that his most amazing skill is that this stunning body of work all came from one reclusive guy in Teaneck, New Jersey.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Roger M. » May 16th, 2016, 10:10 am

Joe Mckay wrote:
Still - I would much rather look through Karl Fulves's work looking for entertaining magic than I would the work of Stewart James!


I'm afraid you hit a soft spot there Joe.

I'd simply point out that there are tricks in the big three Stewart James books that absolutely slay magicians and laymen alike ... are entertaining to a fault, and (like most card tricks) are far more dependent on the performer than they are on the creator.

There's also a good chance that, should you perform one of those hidden James nuggets, you could easily be performing a trick that few magicians but James have ever performed before.

James was a fricking genius ten times over, untouchable really ... and deserving of far more respect (IMO) than to imply he was nothing more than a bore that happened to luck out and create Sefalaljia ... sorry for the rant, and departure from Fulves.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby erdnasephile » May 16th, 2016, 10:53 am

Roger M. wrote:As a specific example, on some topics, those where Fulves develops a "theme", he tends to probe them far deeper than most, if not all, other authors of similar material.

Using Fulves Riffle Shuffle Series as an example, there is simply nothing else out there that can compare to the research Fulves has completed and published.
KF's Riffle Shuffle work is simply epic in its scope.

Not only does Fulves repeatedly demonstrate his own abilities as an author, but also demonstrates his impressive is his abilities as an editor.

From his practical "Riffle Shuffle Set-Ups" to his story based "Gamblers Third Lesson", there are additional 500 pages in the Riffle Shuffle Series between those two books that, as a whole ... singularly define riffle shuffle work.

He has hundreds of similar works, on dozens of assorted topics, all with various themes ... perhaps indicating that his most amazing skill is that this stunning body of work all came from one reclusive guy in Teaneck, New Jersey.


Ahh....thank you Roger--that's exactly what I'm looking for. I'll try to track down some of that material and take a look.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Evan Shuster » May 16th, 2016, 11:35 am

I see your point. I guess I may have misread the intent of your post.

One of the things I like about his work is when he takes a particular theme or area of interest and explores it in great detail. Aside from the Riffle Shuffle and Packet Switches volumes, examples like Command Colors, where he explores red-black themes, or The Magic Thrust, exploring the card stab, or his work on Brainwave. Just a few examples of some of what I appreciate about his work.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 16th, 2016, 11:48 am

Hey Roger,

I have continued the Stewart James discussion over here:

http://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=48263

Don't want to disrupt this thread too much.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 16th, 2016, 12:04 pm

One thing I love about Karl Fulves is his work as an editor and student of magic.

He has a brilliant ability to spot tricks that are long forgotten about (and buried in print), and bring them to light for his readers.

He does this time and time again in The Chronicles and The Pallbearer's Review, and they were the highlights of the magazine for me. There is nothing better than being taught a trick you would never have heard of otherwise. And - often the tricks - had a clever subtlety lurking in them which means they could easily have been overlooked in any case. If it were not for Fulves drawing your attention to them.

Recently I went over his Dover publications again and saw that he does this in those books as well. One highlight for me was learning the brilliant bluff cut and restored silk trick (by Phoa Yan Tiong) that went viral in magic about 30 years ago. Another was learning a sneaky Richard Himber principle that I had never come across before.

I shared the idea with Andy (from The Jerx) and he created an interesting variation of the idea which he taught on his blog.

The trick is the third entry down on the following page:

http://www.thejerx.com/blog/2016/3/20/gardyloo7

As always when I mention Andy's blog. It is well worth checking out. He is my favourite thinker in magic today.

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Re: New Karl Fulves Pubs

Postby Joe Mckay » May 16th, 2016, 2:03 pm

In the Stewart James thread - Roger mentioned some poker deals by Stewart that he loves performing.

Well - my favourite thinking in this area involves a Karl Fulves principle. It is pretty much his best idea.

I thought I would share it in this thread as a way of shining some light on the brilliance of Karl Fulves's thinking.

My favourite use for the principle is this version by David Britland.

http://cardopolis.blogspot.co.uk/2005/03/last-game-this-poker-routine-was.html

I am pretty sure John Bannon had some great work on this principle as well. But my memory fails me just now. I think it was his 'Riverboat Poker' routine from Six Impossible Things.


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