The Genii Forum

I'm searching for the magazines Karl Fulves published/publishes. The ones that came after Chronicles and Pallbearers Review under various names. Some years ago I read some rave reviews about them in the Linking Ring.
I haven't seen them on dealers websites. Since I live in Germany, it seemed very complicated to subscribe. Mr. Fulves seems to have no website, email, etc.
Can anyone be of help to get the current (if still published) or older issues?
Thanks in advance
Klaus-Peter

You can see a list of all his published material on MagicPedia: http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Karl_Fulves

The only way to deal with Karl Fulves directly is to write him an old-fashioned letter, to Karl Fulves, Box 433, Teaneck NJ 07666. He is currently, slowly, publishing a magazine called Prolix, advertised as "New Periodical. All-star material. Each issue 70 pages. Ten issues. $150.00" The price is probably higher for overseas. Although he is several issues into the magazine, he advertised the entire run, along with currently available books, on a sheet included with the most recent issue.

Karl always requests that you include a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply.

I enjoy Prolix very much and recommend it.

Richard Kaufman wrote:I enjoy Prolix very much and recommend it.

It's very highly recommended.

Matt Field

Thank you everyone for the reply. In MagicPedia I read, that some other magazines are not complete. Since I subscribed to and payed in full for several magazines during my magic life which did'nt fulfill their promised amount of issues, I'm a bit hesitant.
Any advice here? Any source I can buy the old issues of e.g. Fine Print, Discoverie etc.?
Can you hint on some content in Prolix?

Thanks again
Klaus-Peter

KPPfeiffer,
I have these complete sets available from Fulves.

Off the Books- 10 issues complete
Discoverie/Charletan 10/10 issues complete
Rigmarole/Verbatim 10/10 issues complete
Swindle Sheet/Cheat Sheet 10/10 issues complete
Underworld/The Fine Print 10/10 issues complete

Jeff

I would buy these from you:

Discoverie/Charletan 10/10 issues complete
Rigmarole/Verbatim 10/10 issues complete
Swindle Sheet/Cheat Sheet 10/10 issues complete
Underworld/The Fine Print 10/10 issues complete

email me with a price.

brad@bradhenderson.com

Has anyone subscribed to Prolix or communicated with Mr. Fulves recently? I sent a check for my subscription (to begin with issue #1) two months ago. The check has not been cashed, and I have not received any communication regarding my request (despite including a SASE). Is the address that Steve posted above still current? Is there any other method of communication that any of you might recommend?

Thanks!
Evan

Evan, I wouldn't worry too much. Mr. Fulves is likely in Florida (or elsewhere) for the winter and will probably promptly attend to your order upon his return. This has been our experience in ordering books from him. He generally doesn't cash the checks until he is ready to fill the order, so monitoring that would give you a good idea of when to expect to receive your order. I'm not sure if his mail gets forwarded. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to communicate with him other than by letter, by his own choice. But we have always found him scrupulously honest in his business dealing, one just has to be very patient!

Thanks Richard. I hadn't considered the fact that he spent winters away, but given the conditions of Winter in Jersey it makes a whole lotta sense. Thanks for the reassurance!

Evan -- Prolix issue 5 just arrived. It's got material by John Scarne, Ross Bertram, Slydini, Martin Gardner, Roy Walton, Sam Schwartz, Gene Maze and many others, plus two issues of "X-Tra Credit" and apparatus for a rope and ring trick.

Anyone interested in Karl Fulves's outstanding new magazine (it will run for 10 issues) or any of the material he has in print is advised to send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Karl Fulves, P.O. Box 433, Teaneck, NJ 07666.

Matt Field

Matt, I am amazed that you would receive Prolix in England before I get it in Washington, since Karl does send it first class in the US.

Grr. You also beat out Indiana. Karl must like you best!

Karl had a question he wanted me to help him answer, so perhaps that's why I received it early.

Matt Field

Thanks Matt! I'll give it another couple of weeks before I give up on my check having gotten to him.

Prolix arrived in Indiana today.

Arrived in DC yesterday.

I tried to contact Fulves several times, but never got respond from him. Any of you have his newest catalog and can help me to get some stuff from Fulves?

So... it turns out that my first check never made it to Mr. Fulves (serves me right for trusting the post office during the holiday season). I wrote to KF and he promptly responded, letting me know that the check was not received. I sent another check and he followed up, letting me know that he got it and would send the first five issues by end of week (which he did, even prior to my check clearing the bank). I received the issues (et al) a few days later. Terrific value coupled with great customer service!

dzejdzej wrote:I tried to contact Fulves several times, but never got respond from him. Any of you have his newest catalog and can help me to get some stuff from Fulves?

Did you enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope? And I presume you're in the U.S. (since there's no info in your profile.) Outside the U.S. is a lot more complicated.

Matt Field

I think someone should donate a laptop to Mr Karl for easy business.
And, setup a paypal account .... his business should get very lucrative very quickly.

"Mr. Karl" worked in the computer industry. He doesn't wish to be on line.

Matt Field

The only way to contact Fulves is by snail mail. That's the way he's always wanted it, and there's little use speculating why or discussing it further.

If you want to buy something from him, just send him a letter.

If you can't be bothered, he doesn't care.

ive sent him a letter... it's not an order, it's just a letter.
And i'm not expecting a response. I just wanted to write and tell him how greatful i am, for his millions of wonderfull words.

Sometimes, we forget to say thanks.

Just wanted to know...
Does Karl Fulves get his Genii magazine? Other magic relate magazine?

I am thinking about subscribe from him.

Richard Perrin wrote:Just wanted to know...
Does Karl Fulves get his Genii magazine? Other magic relate magazine?

I am thinking about subscribe from him.

How could anyone else know?
But you can if you write to him and ask
- and enclose an envelope with postage for his reply. :)

Can anyone recommend a good shop with many titles published by K.F. ?!

And, what is your favourite effect by Mr Fulves?

Karl used to deliver his works to Tannen's every few weeks. There was a wall with his books on one side and a freestanding kiosk with his magazines on the other side of the shop.

Jonathan Townsend wrote:Karl used to deliver his works to Tannen's every few weeks. There was a wall with his books on one side and a freestanding kiosk with his magazines on the other side of the shop.

I searched for Fulves on this website, no Fulves products, hmm. http://www.tannens.com/

H&R books used to stock many items from Fulves. Hatch reads these boards, so he might respond. Otherwise, you can e-mail H&R books and ask.

H&R have many Fulves books, sure.
http://www.magicbookshop.com/

I attempted to get Karl's 'catalog' by sending him a self addressed envelope with international postage coupons (I live in Canada)twice now, and must presume Karl doesn't do international postage coupons.

Has anybody from out of the U.S. managed to get a hold of Karls latest catalog?

Even better, does anybody have a copy of that catalog they could scan and email me?......I'd be most appreciative.

I'm assuming that appropriate postage for various countries is indicated in Karl's catalog, which can be added to the cheque paying for the order, and Karl will mail away.

I don't fault the guy for wanting to be a ludite with the email thing, but it's starting to seem a tad difficult getting a hold of a catalog as a non U.S. resident.

Regardless, his stuff is brilliant.

(The H&R web site is out of most everything of Fulves but the "easy to do" card tricks you see at bookstores).

The last time I mailed Fulves with an international order he said he stopped mailing internationally.

All in all H&R are short on Fulves materials and haven't gotten stock in a long time (I've been on the lookout for a few), Karl does not distribute his publications to dealers, and he will not mail outside of the US (it seems).

So here I sit perfectly willing to pay for the items but completely unable to buy them except at exhorbitant prices on ebay or other sites.

I find such a situation really sad, but I imagine Mr. Fulves couldn't care less.

We stock most Fulves' privately published titles about once every two years. The last time we did, we sold out in about 48 hours of having posted them on our website.
A reasonable question to ask is, if they sell so well for us, why don't we restock more frequently...
Well, we can't simply call or email Karl, we have to write him a letter, something we have almost forgotten how to do, alas. And we have to enclose payment in advance, with an estimate of the shipping costs. Then we sit back and wait. Sometimes for several months. By time the order arrives (and it always does eventually), most of the titles are pre-sold and we need to restock, but it takes about two years for the pressure to do so to build up to the level where we sit down and do something about it... If we could simply call or email him with an order on an open account (or make payment by credit card or paypal), we'd have his titles in stock continuously...
We are getting close to placing an order with him now, so if you have a list of Fulves titles you are wanting us to include in our order, you might send me a private email and I'll try to prioritize placing the order after the upcoming IBM convention (back on July 5th...). We do respond well to persistence, and we are happy to ship internationally.

Thanks Dick, I'll send you a short list of what Fulves material I'm after via email.

Karl's aversion to phone orders, email orders, international shipping, etc really is his own business, but it does tend to make things difficult for folks out of country who seek access to some of his more vertical material.
Seems it makes it difficult for his only retail outlet (H&R) as well!

The funny thing is that his "Easy" card trick books show up on the shelves of almost every single small and large bookstore in the English speaking world.
I would hazard a guess (based on what I've seen in bookstores in various cities) that Fulves is perhaps the most widely available author of magic books in North America.......and yet you can't get your hands on his "Gamblers Third Lesson" without selling your first born :)

Richard, I had sent you an email about some Fulves materials I was looking for a year ago now. I keep visiting your site and never saw them come in stock. If they were restocked and disappeared quickly, well, I guess I wasn't on the list, and none of my visits fell in that very short period.

If it's possible I'd be perfectly willing to just send you the money and let you take care of the details of getting my order in with Mr. Fulves, and I don't mind waiting for it as long as it gets to me. Heck, I've been waiting over a year already with nothing to show for it, sending advance payment for the boon of not having to look at ebay every 2 days, finding something once every 6 months, and being outbid by crazy amounts 5 seconds before the auction ends, well, that sounds good to me.

I will send you an email about it and keep my fingers crossed.

If a magic dealer just specialised in selling Karl Fulves' stuff over the internet they would make a killing. Demand would be through the roof and they could make practically as much profit as they wanted (have you seen the Ebay prices for Fulves' stuff?). I don't live in the US - so I hope somebody else can fill the MASSIVE gap in the market for this service...

Joe

If all the secrets of magic were this hard to acquire we'd have fewer and better magicians, and more mysterious and more impressive magic. In his own way, Fulves has damned the internet and all the scamsters, pirates and thieves who roam there and all those overpriced, dumb one-trick DVDs and self-published books by people who've been in magic for two weeks.

Don't complain about how difficult it is to find his stuff -- that's why it's valuable.

I have the Gambler's Third Lesson and I'm not sharing it.