I recently purchased the e-book version of Aaron Shields’ latest work, Deviant Practices. I was impressed with the quality of the material, and you can easily tell that these are well thought out pieces of work. I’ll try to stay brief in my review, but comprehensive as well. That being said, let us begin.

Dr. Dolittle’s Aces – The effect of this is an attempt to recreate John Scarne’s famous Ace-cutting deal, which was having a brand new deck of cards opened by the spectator, having it shuffled by the spectator and then one at a time cutting to the four aces. Aaron’s approach to this is very clever. While not easy, everything appears very fair and convincing. This is a good piece. Also, Aaron does an excellent job of explaining the sleights needed to perform this, as he does in every effect.

Every Which Way But Loose – This is a fake center deal demonstration based on a Steve Mayhew routine. This is an excellent routine to deal Kings and Aces from an apparently mixed deck. Keep in mind that this does require advanced card handling.

Imagicination – This is a very, very cool idea. In this routine, a card changes in the spectator’s hand. Like I said earlier, this is cool, and it is a worker as well.

Under the Influence – This is a nifty routine that allows one to show that the spectator(s) is under the influence of the magician’s power. In more detail, you show the spectator cards, and they see something different than what you tell them the cards are. When you show the cards again, they actually are what you said they were, leaving the spectators with the explanation that they were under your influence.

Caliban’s Revenge – This is a very interesting technique, that allows you to locate a spectator’s card in the deck. They pick the card while your back is turned, and the cards are completely ungimmicked. I haven’t tried this out yet, but it does seem like a workable method, and Aaron does offer tips on what to do when you are a bit off.

Confessions of an Idiot Savant – This routine is making me work on my Second Deal. It is a combination of three techniques to give the impression that you know everything and can do everything with a deck of cards. I like this routine a lot. The presentation is extremely engaging as well.

Hold Up – This is an interesting gambling routine based on the game of Texas Hold ‘em. Some riffle stacking is required, which puts it beyond my skill level, but it appears to be a solid routine all the same. If you like gambling routines, this is a good one.

Timber’s Triumph – A very simple, direct in the hands Triumph routine. Again, not the easiest of routines, but nice and direct. I’ll be using this one as well.

Finally, the book ends with several ideas – not essays, as Aaron doesn’t want to refer to them as that – that deal with several subjects. These are thought provoking, and leave just enough with you so that you can appreciate his thoughts, form your own opinion yet not be overwhelmed by Aaron’s position.

Overall, I would give this book my highest recommendation. With a lot of sub-par material being released these days, Aaron’s is a shining light that should not go overlooked. This is easily worth the 15 dollars he is asking for it. In the past, I have paid much more for much less. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with this.


Purchase at:

http://www.freewebs.com/aaronshields/

I just bought this e book tonight and am looking forward to reading it. Aaron is a great person to buy from. Excellent customer service. I'll review the book after I read it...

Zach:

Thank you very much for your thoughts on the product. I'm glad you thoroughly enjoyed it.

submagi:

I'm anxious to see your feedback on the product.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I started a mailing list that will periodically send out free tricks and give the latest information on my products.

Within the next few weeks, I will send out my solution to Stewart James' legendary 51 Faces North. Imagine this: The magician borrows a deck and names a card. He hands the deck to a spectator and has him deal through the deck, turning cards face-up. At any point the spectator deals one card face-down. Spreading through the face-up pack, the spectator realizes that the named card is nowhere in sight.......but there is that one, face-down card that no one has seen. The spectator turns over the card, revealing it to be the one named by the magician! The best news is that this trick is beyond self-working, you might even say it's spectator-working. The magician does not perform a single sleight, yet the spectator's actions make the method work automatically.

It will only be available to people who join the list.

'Deviant Practices' is also available from Magic Notes now (link on my sig). It's a wonderful manuscript; the thinking and the meticulous work that has gone in to making this booklet is outstanding.

The effect that stands out for me is 'Timbers Triumph' - but then it wood!

Jamie.

Aaron; that effect sounds cool! I'm gonna sign up just for that ;-)

Seems strange a self-worker coming from someone who wrote a booklet that sounds so hardcore in Zach's review!

Is there some easier stuff in your ebook or is it all tough ?! Don't get me wrong - I don't mind a bit of work - just trying to guage the level of this thing!

John

I'd consider the breakdown of the tricks as follows:

Those That Aren't Hard: Imagicination, Caliban's Revenge, Under The Influence (the suggestion I give at the end of it puts a potentially difficult move well within anyone's reach).

Those that are potentially hard: Dr. Dolittle's Aces, Hold-Up, Confessions of An Idiot Savant, Every Which Way But Loose, Timber's Triumph.

The ideas in the essays are also applicable to anyone.

None of the routines are angle sensitive, as I feel routines of such a nature are impractical for use under most performing conditions.

If you are willing to put some work in, even the hard routines are learnable.

I don't construct any of my routines just to employ difficult moves. I usually start with the effect I want and then construct the routine from the ground-up, employing the most efficient methods to achieve my goals.

Thanks for the interest.

I just bought this e-book also-- I cant wait for it!! Thanks for your review!

Jaymz... if you buy from Magic Notes, you don't have to wait; the download occurs right after you pay!

BTW, check out the new homepage on Magic Notes; there are charts there now for best-sellers and for new products...

Jamie.

Thanks for the info

I just wanted to encourage everyone to check out the review of this manuscript and my pass manuscript in the current issue of MAGIC magazine.

Also be sure to read the John Fisher article on Fred Kaps, it's the best article I've read in a magazine in quite awhile.

Okay, between Close's review in Magic magazine and what has been said here, I'm off to purchase the book and the dribble pass manuscript...

I'll let you all know what I think!

E

Since the review in Magic, this has started selling like crazy on Magic Notes... it's a *lovely* manuscript; really well crafted. Well Mr Close says it better than I ever could...

Jamie.

I thought you all might be interested in viewing the video of my Dribble Block Pass that I just posted on my website. Check it out at

http://www.freewebs.com/aaronshields/

Follow the link to the pass page.

Aaron

Wow your face up dribble pass is one of the best ive seen.

Neo,

Thank you for the kind comments. I think it looks better in person than on webcamera, as it comes across as a bit more fluid.

As a side note, I recently updated my website, and now it facilitates the ordering of hard copies for overseas users.

I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that by next wednesday, the price for Deviant Practices in both forms is going to rise by $5.00. The price of the Dribble Block Pass is going to rise by $2.00 in both forms. The recent onslaught of the eBook market has psoitioned booklets of a comparable or lesser quality, with regards to production, in a higher price range than I am selling my booklets for. The price raise is in an effort to price it in accord with products of similar or lesser quality from a production standpoint.

... so grab 'em now from http://www.magic-notes.com ;-)

Jamie, since I presume the e-mail addresses of anyone who purchases from magic-notes is already in your databases, can you automatically inform us of new items or, for example, explanatory videos (like Daniel Garcia's EGO controls) that get placed on the site?

Cheers,

Lawrence