Ryan has managed to invoke a sense of nostalgia in me with this publication. In the days of one trick downloads, and ebooks, that you can purchase instantly, with nothing more than your Paypal password, it feels good to hold a physical product in your hand. Something that you know will contain good solid commercial magic, and not a heavily edited trailer in sight.
In releasing this publication I believe Ryan hoped to capture the spirit of the magazines and trick journals of days past along with the anticipation of waiting to receive them in the mail. Lots have come and gone that I remember, Onyx, Channel One, Antinomy, Penumbra to name a handful. They all had one thing in common good solid magic from well respected magicians and you always looked forward to receiving the next issue to get that trick fix.
In current times lots of magicians are now experimenting with the self-publishing format, and it is something that works very well for this type of booklet. You receive a smart, well printed 100 page booklet containing 12 tricks. Ryan introduces each trick and they all contain black and white photographic illustrations.
To simply list the tricks would lessen the anticipation if you intend to order this, and you should. I will point out a few of my favourites however, the volume starts with Robin Robertson’s very simple quick version of the fusion plot, one of my favourite card magic plots. Staying with the simple in the spectators hands card magic, Paul Hallas’s contribution Voodoo Jokers is a version of a Steranko/Hollingworth classic. Paul has distilled this into its simplest form and it may get dismissed for its simplicity, but I can see this playing very strongly.
Steve Dusheck contributes a very commercial time-travel themed piece ideal for giving away your business card. John Carey in his usual style of simplifying method contributes a novel and easy two deck ACAAN.
Ryan himself contributes a a coincidence effect utilising a powerful Paul Cummins technique. I am a huge John Bannon fan so I read his contribution first which is an Any Mate at Any Number routine based on a JK Hartman trick, and as you would expect from Bannon you get a lot of effect for minimal sleight of hand. The last trick in the book from Gordon Bean is a version of one of Ryan’s tricks. It is a very strange, freely selected card through box routine, that again takes place in the spectators hands. It has a kicker ending they won’t see coming, and on top of all that works very well for walk-around as it doesn’t require a table.
The other tricks I haven’t mentioned I will leave you to read and digest, you should have at least some anticipation and excitement to receiving a book in the mail! I believe Ryan’s wish is to make this a regular publication and he is already soliciting contributions for volume 2, so seek him out if you have material to give. If not buy this volume and every volume after that safe in the knowledge you are receiving good solid magic, a well produced physical product, and a little bit of anticipation and excitement as you wait for it to arrive!
Ultramodern can by purchased for $25 at Ryan’s website Retro Rocket Magic