I am reading through Steve Beam's Semi-Automatic Card Tricks volume 1 and can't figure out how to do Bottoming Out (page 17). The trick as written only seems to work if the selected card is a King, but there is no force described. Can anyone tell me what I am missing? Thanks.

Indeed the description calls for a force of any king, though it's not made explicit. Steve describes an easy and convincing force (Wayne Kyszer's Bottomout)on page 154 of vol. 1. Or you could use the Hindu Shuffle Force or the Criss Cross Force.

Alternatively, if you'd like to use any card, you could change the presentation. I've come up with a couple. Here's one that preserves the stop element:

Tell your spectator that s/he is to think stop during the spelling and you go through the whole deck (with some acting etc.). At the end you can humorously chide your spectator for trying to trick you as they did not think stop, they'll say they did etc. Finally, reveal their selection with a witty remark.

I would not perform the effect as described, I would put the dealt cards after each value under the deck, to prevent some people to reconstruct the effect. Or, if I kept to the original handling, I'd false shuffle the deck a couple of times between the spellings.

Thanks, Claudio! That clears things up for me. And I like your suggestions. It is helpful as an amateur to see how someone might adapt something like this. Thanks again!