Gagnon Unfiltered

[Matthew Field]

The postman delivered a HUGE package to my doorstep which turned out to be a new magic book, “Gagnon Unfiltered”, by my friend Tom Gagnon and which I had the pleasure of editing (along with Newell Unfried).
This 500 page book is Tom’s largest work to date and is a true labor of love. In addition to being an amazing creative sleight of hand artist, Tom is well-known as perhaps the premiere magic book illustrator, and the present volume has 1350 of his drawings to help make everything crystal clear.
Included in the book are card and coin effects and sleights including false cuts and work on Tom’s famous ribbon spread passes, as well as ground breaking work on controls with the cards still in the case! There’s work with trick decks and tricks to perform on a pool table, effects in which the spread deck is covered by a handkerchief and yet the magic still happens, and Tom’s brilliant Zig-Zag Pass, performed with the deck on the table. And I’m just scratching the surface.
There’s an introduction by Jon Racherbaumer and, in my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful magic books I have ever seen, printed on coated paper with a gorgeous cover (under the dustjacket!) and beautifully illustrated end papers.
Tom wants this book to be used, and he has gone to the trouble of making each effect’s write-up self-contained, so when you read something you needn’t search through multiple write-ups to find descriptions of what to do – it’s all right there.
It’s a big book, 8 ½ x 11 ½ inches and Tom has spent years working on it. It costs $89.95 postpaid in the continental U.S. and is available from Tom at http://www.TomGagnonMagic.com . For those (like me) living in other parts of the world, you can place a special order at your favorite dealer who can order it for you through their wholesaler, Murphy’s Magic, (This is because the international postage for this massive volume would otherwise be prohibitive.)
Find more information at http://www.TomGagnonMagic.com and check out Tom’s videos on YouTube. He’s also on Facebook.
I am very proud to have played a small part in bringing this important work to the magic community.

[Bill Mullins]

How much is in this book that is not in his two (excellent) books "Avant-Cards" and "Too Hot for the Devil"?

Here's the link to the ordering site.

[Matthew Field]

Hi Bill. None of this material is in the other books. All new! All shiny!

[Bill Mullins]

Great. Maybe he will have copies at MagiFest this week.

[Joe Mckay]

I am interested in the card tricks involving a pool table. Can you tell me more about that chapter?

Also - when will the book be ready for order?

[Matthew Field]

Joe -- The pool table effects include a dice stacking routine in which pool chalk is used instead of dice, and as a finale an 8-ball appears atop the stack; a card revelation in which a cue ball is shot at the deck which cuts itself at the selection; a mystery in which a card is peeked and the deck shuffled, then the names of the topo 15 cards are written in grease pencil on the cue ball which is spun and covered with a dice cup. As the cup is propelled by the spinning ball around the floor and comes to rest, the cup is lifted to show the name of the chosen card atop the cue ball. And three more!

[Joe Mckay]

Sounds great. Thanks for that Matthew!

I am good friends with the actor Al Pacino. Not many people know he is interested in card tricks involving pool tables as well.

Here is his take on Paul Harris's Flap Jacks routine which also makes use of a pool table.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeJzt4UBfkk

[Richard Kaufman]

And I was very close to Marlon Brando, who loved nothing more than doing the Hat Tear for his 25 children.

[Joe Mckay]

The guy doing the card trick in the link I provided looks like Al Pacino.

Just a dumb attempt from humour by me!

[MagicbyAlfred]

Joe, that has got to be one of the coolest (or at least the "poolest") card tricks I've ever seen. I have long done the John Bannon trick (I believe it is from Impossibilia) where the spectator freely selects (ha ha ha!) a black 8 from the deck. After the card is replaced and the deck shuffled, the magician announces that the card has jumped from the deck invisibly and into the magician's pocket. No, not just the pocket, but into the card box. Magician pulls card box out of his or her pocket, opens it, looks inside, and asks spectator, "Was your card an eight?" Spec of course says yes (unless a pathological liar or heckler). Magician then asks: "Was it a black eight," Spec confirms that indeed it was. Magician shakes the box upside down and a real 8 ball apparently drops out from the box and is caught by the magician, who announces that this was the only black 8 in the box. This is, without a doubt, one of the strongest card tricks I do, and never fails to get an incredible reaction. I think this trick would be a great follow-up to the trick by the Al Pacino look-alike that you posted. I also happen to love playing pool - so that's my "cue" to head over to the local pub, as we speak, and I can't wait to try the Al Pacino card trick!

[Matthew Field]

"Gagnon Unfiltered" is now available online from Vanishing Inc. in the U.K.!