"Magic That's Fun... For Profit" ebook by Scott Guinn
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available direct from Scott Guinn
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Scott F. Guinn, fellow Visions contributor, has recently converted two of his earlier publications into eBook format (apparently he thought hardcopies weren't easy enough for people to share over the internet). This review will detail "Magic That's Fun... For Profit", and big boss man Shane will review the second book, Raymonde Crow's "As The Crow Flies".

Mr. Guinn is a professional magician from Idaho who has performed regularly at restaurants for over fifteen years. It is material from this vast experience that he promises to teach within the eBook, creating you plenty of fun and profit in the process.

For starters, the forty page document is very well laid out with plenty of photos. This coupled with the clear writing, leaves nothing to be desired in the learning department. With the exception of a few omissions and misattributing credits, Mr. Guinn does a great job paying homage to the originators of the material he uses. At the end of each trick description, Mr. Guinn goes on to teach the necessary moves that the reader may not already be familiar with; even such standards as the Hindu Shuffle and Riffle Force are included. I'm glad the decision was made to place these at the end of each routine so as not to clutter up the main descriptions. As you can imagine with such a strategy, no stones are left unturned and I cannot imagine anyone having a problem learning the material properly.

The eBook itself looks as though it is literally a digital translation of the hardcopy. This unfortunately means there are no digital features included into the file. For instance, one cannot click on a routine from the table of contents and immediately be transported to the chosen destination. Another unfortunate result of the direct transfer from paper to pixel is the fact that the page numbers from the document do not line up with the page numbers from the PDF reader. Some people may find these to be minor issues, but I feel there are so many opportunities for eBooks to include certain advantages over their tangible counterparts that it makes me cry myself to sleep at night when I don't see even the smallest attempt made to enhance
the readers' experience.

With the production values out of the way, let's get on to the fun and profitable material.

Mr. Guinn provides quite the variety of material: five card tricks, two coin tricks, two other close-up tricks, and two parlor/platform routines. Nearly all of the material is well within the reach of most performers with beginner to intermediate technical skill.

Out of the card material offered, two of them can be performed with an unprepared pack, while the other three will require extra cards or gimmicks. With tricks that run the gamut from Red Hot Mama to All Backs to The Universal Card, etc., the plots are all quite familiar. That being said, they are also classics for a reason.

How do they fare against their original counterparts?

The Good - I've never really been a fan of most All Back routines, but I dug Ransomed Back because the All Back sequence was only one part of the larger
framework. This is quite possibly the best application for such a plot.

The Meh - Red Hot Mama's Lips was essentially a step sideways in the Red Hot
Mama lineage. This version adds some extra impossibility, but the lip prints and card-to-pocket portions slightly muddy up the clarity of the original in the process. I have no doubt this plays as well as Mr. Guinn says it does, I would just hesitate to call it an improvement.

The Fugly - A Visit to Boise is his take on Larry Jennings' The Visitor. This was the one routine I was most looking forward to reading as I am a huge fan of the plot; an attribute Mr. Guinn and I share (along with our love for Lindsay Lohan). Unfortunately, I was let down. Mr. Guinn mentions that he was attempting to eliminate the packet kiss at the conclusion of the original routine (an admirable goal, I may add), however in the process, he cut the routine in half and lost any finessed structure the original
provided. Now the selection travels only once (as opposed to twice, which was the main feature of the original) and a fishy sequence has been added which involves bringing some cards on the deck to do a lengthy move before placing them back on the table which, to the audience, apparently accomplished nothing. And unlike the other routines, no presentational premise is provided. I would have rather seen this one left out.

To round out the other two card items: I enjoyed his Universal Cards routine, it was efficient and to the point with a nice clean finale. His Travelers routine though, was unfortunately another step backward. The cards were neither signed nor chosen. As with his Visitor routine, Mr. Guinn has stripped Travelers of its power. In the Revelations video series, Dai Vernon talked about performing this routine before the days he decided to get the cards signed, and the fact that even though the four-of-a-kind was freely named, everyone thought he already had the cards in his pocket before he began. This is unfortunately not far off from Mr. Guinn's offering.

Okay, so the card section overall didn't add buoyancy to my marine vessel, but since cards are my first love, I may be a little more critical. Let's check out the coins.

Magic Western Union is a great presentation for Eddie Fechter's Flying Eagles routine; with a kicker to boot! Mr. Guinn wonderfully covers the weak point in the original routine for me; that three coins already start in each hand (it seemed like a Coins Across interrupted already in progress). He also strings it along with a lot of fun audience interaction and byplay. If you're looking for a relatively easy Coins Across and have the use of a table handy, ding ding, you're getting off here.

Glass Action Suit is a sharp Coins to Glass routine that is wholly synergistic. Even though there isn't much in the way of new moves or ideas, Mr. Guinn managed to pack several slick magical moments into a tight and economical handling. He has also admirably pointed out where he got each phase, allowing you to search out the originals for comparison.

The other close-up routines are as follows. <whisper> Are you ready?
</whisper>

Rings Off. Rings On is one cool Ring & String routine. It uses familiar objects, visual magic, and a permanently linked climax. What more could you ask for? Mr. Guinn teaches his Wring Out The Ring move in the routine and is really something every Ring & String worker should know. It's as devious and convincing as a Michael Moore film.

A Trunk Full of Nuts is a cute Two in the Hand, One in the Pocket routine. Nothing groundbreaking, but a worthy candidate for being the Two in the Hand, One in the Pocket that you keep in your hand and pocket.

And finally, here's a breakdown of the stand-up material.

The first routine, The Card or The Cash Visual Matchup, is one heckuva performance piece. The spectators play the pivotal roles here, not the props, and the result is a lot of joke filled interaction that's hard to beat. And did I mention the magic was strong too? You will need to go on a hunter & gatherer expedition to acquire the necessary props, but there's nothing too exotic on the list, and it will be more than worth it to put in the moderate effort.

The last item in the eBook is Million Dollar Chocolate. It's a Misers Dream done with chocolate coins that can be given away to the birthday child at the end. I've never worked a children's birthday party, so I have no place in laying down an opinion here. It does read quite nicely, but that's as far as I can go.

Overall, it's quite obvious that Mr. Guinn thinks about his magic a lot. In fact, I would have liked to see him talk about his thinking behind the material here. I would love to have read why he performs these routines as he does; why they maintained a spot in his restaurant work for fifteen years. For magicians who already perform a version of these classics, it could be the difference between them saying, "Nah, the original is superior," and "Oh, now I see why this version is so much better!"

I've really enjoyed Mr. Guinn's articles on this site, so it was cool to finally see the material behind the man. Do you like fun? Do you like profit? Then what are you waiting for?

"Magic For Fun... And Profit" ebook by Scott Guinn
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 7
With the exception of some of the card material, everything is well thought
out and routined into nice tight packages.

Quality: 9
The eBook has a crisp clear layout with even crispier and clearier writing
by Mr. Guinn. I cannot fathom a single person having difficulty learning
from these pages. The only downside was that the conversion from book to
eBook came with page number issues.

Illustrations: 10
There are so many clear photographs, even illiterate Canadians can learn the
material.

Presentation: 10
Nearly every routine includes a full presentation, and sometimes even two!
You may choose to tweak them to fit your style, but I guess I should hope
you do that with every trick you perform.


Tyler Wilson