The Steve Beam series looks to be well recommended. I have a few questions for those that are familiar with them.

What are your favorite tricks from SACT v1-7?

Which of the volumes includes effects using a Si Stebbins stack?

Which is your favorite volume?

Save yourself the hassle and get The Card Magic of Nick Trost.
Rennie

I have it. Trost is awesome.

Why "hassle"?

I have 3 of the SACT books (vols. 2, 3, 4), and frankly, there's not much material that I use from them. The majority of the tricks start out with something along the lines of "arrange the deck so that the top 13 cards are the A-K of Hearts in order", or "place 4 Tens on top of the deck followed by 4 black cards followed by 4 Jacks", or "arrange the entire deck in red/black alternating color." Now, I realize that there are some clever routines in SACT, and there is a place for those types of tricks. In fact, some may love these type of effects. But I personally found the pre-work required for most of the tricks to be a drawback. Your mileage may vary.

And to answer your questions, you can probably find tricks utilizing Si Stebbins in any of the volumes (I'm pretty sure there's some in all of mine). And to me, Vol. 4 was better than 2 and 3.

Of course, as I am not qualified to judge the other volumes, I'll leave it for others to offer their opinions.

Best wishes,
Ron

I meant, I would not try to find something in the SACT books if you got the Trost book.

While I like a lot of the ideas in the books, there is an enormous amount of "chaff." Now I'm sure somebody out there uses each trick in the book, but the amount of pre-work makes it challenging to use many of them. Si Stebbins is ubiquitous in all the books I have so far (1 and 3).

That being said, Beam pulls from a lot of interesting minds and you'll get a lot of nifty ideas if you read through everything.

Rufus Steele's books can be recommended in that regard.
Of course, Karl Fulves, Bob Longe will satisfy you.

Hideo Kato

Enjoy your assumptions, guys. I can't wait to bump into some of you and twist your mind around with the stellar, innovative, humorous routines found in each volume of the SACT series.

Whatever you do, PLEASE don't look at Lewis Jones' material nor the contributions from the conjurors of Spain found in the latter two volumes. There's nothing to see there. Just keep movin' by, folks.

Mick Ayres

Also stay away from Mick Ayres's stuff. I mean, REALLY, who would want to learn some jugular ripping stuff from a WORKING pro?

;)

Vlad

Mick,
I'm the OP. From several posts I see you are a big fan of Steve's work. I have read a lot of positive comments in general about his SACT books, thus my original question. I plan to acquire 1 or more. Since 7 volumes is a bit expensive, my original post was too see if there were any favorites. I also work several effects based on the SS stack and heard some of the SACT books had material of this sort. Any recommendations for me based on this?

Hideo, Thanks. I have one of the Fulves books and do like his write-up and selection of tricks.

Agree!, Vlad:D)
Also included: Mr. Ayres' "Out on a Limb"/Just keep on going, folks!
(It's only Mr. Ayers trying to retrieve his "kitty cat"/LOL-(only kidding:) )

Warmest regards,

Sixten

Well... I guess a prop can keep 15 decks in his pockets and then he can do the tricks 15 times!

that's the problem with a lot of the self working idiot proof tricks.. So to speak...

Hi redeagle,

I supposed that you searched for information on SACT volumes and you found VERY contrasting opinions in the forum.
I bought 4 volumes (3,4,6,7) and I found all of those different opinions to be correct : a lot of the tricks need setup so I will certainly not use them, BUT many brilliant ideas, and here and there a few tricks that I use regularly.

Mick Ayres talks about the nice contributions from Lewis Jones (in different volumes) and from spanish magicians (in volumes 6,7) among other brilliant contributors and I feel the same after reading those volumes (and Mick himself has contributed nice effects to the volumes).

So even if there is no easy answer to your question please note :
- I really enjoyed reading those volumes and will certainly buy other volumes because Steve Beam writes in a very humourous way (I do not necessary rate a magic book by the number of tricks I keep but consider the pleasure of reading and the number of interesting ideas/principles I could play with as important) and some pages are absolutely hilarious
- there are SS stack routines among different volumes but there are many many other fascinating principles used in those volumes (Hummer, gilbraith etc...)
- the few routines I use from those volumes have plots/methodologies I would not have found in a sleight of hand magic book (for instance the pattern principle from Lewis Jones in volume 3 allows to perform some memory tricks that can be very impressive)
- you will even find some interesting moves described (for instance the nice underhand false shuffle from Steve Beam in volume 3)

While I only dabble in card effects occasionally, I would recommend SACT Volume 3, which has several nice Stebbins effects. One in particular to look for is Allan Sleight and Beam's "Stebbin Out," an absolutely killer matching effect which can automatically reset your stack after scattering it into four piles.

Even after a number of years since Volume 3 was published, Steve still does this effect occassionally upon request. I believe he's on a lecture tour right now, but if you can catch him, he's incredibly approachable, even for a pasteboard neophyte such as me. I'm sure he would be happy to answer this question and sell you any (or all) of the 7 volumes!

Redeagle,

To answer your question about favorite volumes is difficult, because there is great material for the thinking-performer in each one. Specifically, I am a fan of Steve's work with 'contingency' routines...effects where the methodology changes during performance depending upon the guest's reactions or decisions. I like effects that challenge me to keep on my toes on stage. Never a dull moment that way.

That being said, consider Volume 1. The effects "World's Greatest Magician", "Lucky 13" and "Quadruple Prediction". The first is pure self-working entertainment, the second requires a quick, easy set-up but is worth it, the third is one of those contingency-effects I mentioned. All are killer.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Mick

I was underwhelemed by vol 1, being full of stebbins, gilbreath, and other full deck type stacks. This just made it of little use to me, not necessarily to others. I'm not saying they aren't good effects - I don't know since I can't use them.

Mick,
Thanks for your feedback. I have no issues with setups or even full deck stacks. I can always reference Harry Lorayne's books (among others) for loads of great impromptu stuff. Every methodology provides insight and learning. I guess the common thread in the responses to my question are that the SACT books are well-written, fun to read and all have several worthwhile effects.

I will be in Savannah in the fall and hopefully can come see your act.

Best Regards.

The funny thing is you would think that the title of these books would appeal to the not so advance cardicians. It was only many years later when I became more schooled, especially in false shuffling, that I finally appreciated guys like Steve Beam and Simon Aronson. I was never confident with a stack, especially around intelligent college buddies. I knew that they would not be impress if they couldn't shuffle it, or at least if I couldn't convince them with my own shuffles. Learn how to false shuffle and a whole new realm of magic is opened up. It's great pulling out a pack and casually converse with people while doing the Heinstein shuffle, maintain your stack and proceed to blow them away.

...or better still, let THEM shuffle and proceed to blow them away - check out 'Up The Ante' because you can do it exactly like that with this effect!

There is so much thought in these books. Check out his discussion of the Matsuyama Principle.
Also, Sigh Stebbins is clever and can be a crow pleaser.