Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The ups and downs of the Launch. News from the Wiki. Rumours from the Moon. Zoltar Elite (you asked!) The First Happy Families Supplement -- Baby Farm. The Reginald Scot project. Grandfather Diary. Competition time!
Great Launch
Welcome to the new newsletter. This will be a very occasional publication delivered right to your email. and also available online.
Unlike a forum - your thoughts are etched in digital stone. i.e. no pennies dwelling jerk will follow up your thoughts with a clever comment. Hooray! You can post on anything at all... I suppose it is better if it is magic related. So make an intelligent observation. Or, make a stupid observation. Talk about yourself or what you are up to, alert us to anything interesting we should know about. Also any other ideas would be great - I am thinking of a magic crossword! A cartoon strip! Certainly a global whats on guide would be good! Any of these would be great if they happen - and if they dont, well fine too, as the news letter will still be here to give you the news.
Are we Mad
apparently not..... Are we Mad was set up to encourage risk taking and new thinking. Itis also a place where creators can unload those ideas that are just not quite good or complete enough to sell as full commercial releases. From apunters point of view - it should be an exciting lucky dip with a few realjems mixed in with some interesting experimental thinking. Great idea? You bet! But again, itis slow off the ground. It seems that everyone is waiting for everyone else to put something up. However, Paul, myself and the wonderful Alexandra will kick the ball any day now - so keep your eye on the site. Ideas, comments and suggestions to sales@ alchemy-moon.co.uk. Read more about it here:
understanding. When we say you have all been great, we really mean it. So what does the future hold. The good news is that as this is being written, we have found a new printer and he is busy printing what are very difficult jobs. Then Paul will be sending a box of stuff to me over the pond and then there will be a short period where we prepare the stock. When this is all done we can guarantee that there will be no more delays, no more missmatched items. No more customs problems, at least not in the US and Europe. We are working to a situation where you click the paypal and the parcel is in the post withing one or two days from either the US or the UK which ever is nearer. Again, thanks for holding our hand and standing by with the hot water while the baby screamed now and then!
So what else have we been up to. Paul has been busy working up his performance and doing the Paul socialising thing. Hey all, Paul here. I figured you would be able to immediately tell by my American accent, as opposed to Chris Bristish accent. Oh, I guess it doesnt come across in print as strongly. Well, I want to apologize for being relatively out of contact. Man, have I had a busy few months. We kicked off Alchemy Moon at Mindvention where we had a table. I met a lot of great people and lot of folks got to see (and even smell) the new Alchemy Moon products first hand. I then flew directly from Las Vegas to Phoenix, where I stayed for another week, and met some more magicians. Then my law partner and I drove to Sedona, Arizona where we had a few wild nights and a lot of fun. Needless to say, I was exhausted when I returned. However, there is no rest for the wicked. The Alchemy Moon launch
News Titbits
So although the main purpose of the newspaper is to keep you informed. We would also value your contributions. Reviews - it would be good to have some really informative reviews that can help future customers make an informed choice. Also, the best review each month gets a prize from us! (I have a book somewhere about magic with midgets, I never did use it that would be a good prize! You think I am kidding?) Letters - -a letters page would be great, if it took off. Be fun to read everyones opinions, wouldnt it? Why not start the ball rolling.
was imminent, as well as the obligatory Halloween parties and taking my daughter trick or treating. I did win a costume contest. It was a gift certificate to a liquor store. My wife managed to lose it at a bar that night, though. After my return, I had one week to fine tune my stage set, finish rehearsals and sell tickets to my one man stage show that I four walled at a theatre. The good news is that I had a sell out one night and was only seven tickets short of selling out the next night. So, I am rambling, BUT the important thing is that you know that I have been watching and attending to things. Not to belabour Chris point, but the printing has frankly been a nightmare, one that looks like will soon turn into a sweet dream.
community. OK I said; At least put it out on the Are We Mad section and make a bit of cash back for you thinking... But, he was insistent, no, this was for the community to enjoy. It is better than a lot of the junk that is peddled these days. I know that I will certainly be using it. This excellent stuff also starts off the Library of the Mind section of the Wiki....
I am envisioning a library of routines, discussion papers, articles, routines and little tit-bits. This library will slowly grow over the years - if successful it will be a fantastic resource for our and for future generations. Using the analogy of a traditional library this is how it would work... First you submit an article, a routine, or some other piece of substantial work. Obviously the first pieces need to be a little more than hey guys, if you put dirt in your thumb tip, you can grow cress there. If the introduction article is accepted, you will be sent a key for the library. If it is not accepted, you will get a stock reply saying thanks, and the work is on reserve and will be published when you are accepted. Once you are in the library, you are free to browse what it in there. All of the major pieces will be available in pdf form, so you can take them away too. The most interesting aspect is that not only can you read other peoples work, you can also comment on it and help develop it too, by adding your own ideas and suggestions. Once you are a member, you are free to post what you like - not everything needs to be a substantial piece. So the aim would be to have a slowly expanding resource that supports and develops our work. Do you think this is a good idea?
Well, of course it is, but it really is up to you - if the community gets involved, it will be a great thing, if the community does not get involved, it just wont happen. We are open to submissions now, so it will be the really dynamic seeders of the project that will be sending stuff in first. Again - sales@alchemy-moon. co.uk is the place to send submissions, comments or suggestions for the project. Also, it would help me if the email was titled library. Over to you!
Discussion.
Every page has a discussion tab. This means that you can leave a comment on the content, directly on the page where that content is. So, if you want to pass a general comment - use the tab on the home page. If you want to leave a comment on say - Happy Families.- go to the Happy Family Page and post a comment there. Remember though, this is not a forum, so do not expect a long discussion -or even a reply. Think of it more as you depositing your ideas, comments, suggestions etc. Because no one answers does not mean that no one is reading! It is just a different format. The advantage over forums is that your work is recorded for posterity. It does not disappear under a tide of inane comments.
Articles.
You will notice that each page also has a Edit button. This is the most radical aspect. With this you can create your own content to the main page. You can add your own articles, even your own room or section. So you can publish your own articles for the community to read. Add your own content to one of our products. You can work on an idea of your own- by setting up a page, asking me for a password and inviting who you want to participate. You can infact help construct and develop the direction of the Wiki, if you so choose. However, at the base - the Wiki is a resource for all things Alchemy Moon. Go and check it out, if you have not already done so....
check news. These two pages, along with the subscription to the newsletter should ensure you are kept informed about developments at the moon. Setting up a members page One of the nice things about the wiki is you have the advantage of being able to work in different ways to a forum. We can set up much more detailed pages, attach various files, photos, link easily and so on. The wiki allows you to create new articles, publish your own half-baked ideas (or fully baked ideas if your generous), share routines for products, or just share performance experiences. Then through the community being created you can gain support as other people chip in their ideas and support. One way to keep track of your own contritions on the wiki is to set up a members page. Im going to explain step by step how to go about this. There are two options. First you could just add your website to let people know who you are. To do this you can click on members pages on the left hand menu. Click edit this page on the right. Then click on link and then external link. Type your name or whatever you want the link text to say and enter your web address and click add link. Then click save. If you look on the page there is a speech bubble on the right hand side with a note explaining this step by step. The second option is to set up your own members page on the wiki. You can have your own page to write background on yourself, what you are working on, links to your website or products. If you use the wiki a lot and link things back to your members page this
gives you a good archive of your contributions. To do this click on new page at the top of the right hand menu. Write your page name. I just put my own name, but you may want a grander title for your page. From here you have the freedom to set up your page as you like. I started with background information about myself and then have links to some of my routines and contributions to the bizarre community. You can put pictures of yourself or upload videos or files you want to share. Cirrus used his to detail the diary effect he has been working on. In this way the members pages could be used for supporting each other on what we are working on. Or it can just act in the same way as a profile page like on a forum. If your not comfortable sharing your ideas with everyone pages can be password protected and then just shared with who you want. The possibilities are many. Once you have set up your own page return to the members pages through the left hand menu and link your page to the list. My feeling is the more you contribute towards the wiki the more you get back. Through sharing your routines with Alchemy-Moon products we can create a very useful resource for the community and see things develop far beyond there original intentions. I hope some of this was useful. This has been written early Saturday morning, so may be a bit jumbled. But if it is useful I may discuss in future newsletters how to use some of the other features of the wiki.
was to allow for an authentic performance with a believable context. But a context that allowed for a (relatively) feasible prop to make. So, why did we not sell these with the sets on launch day? Well the problem is that are quite expensive to make, both in terms of time and materials. If we could have sold them at a sub $15 price, we would have sold them.
This is pretty much how we are looking at all of our franchise titles. The idea on this and the AA is that we will be putting out fairly regular supplements. Some as additional routines, some as other forms of exploratory content. some of these will be commercial releases, some will be in the Are we Mad? section, some will be free on the Wiki. There is a potentially strong community element to this - as to everything we do. I am really hoping that some of you guys are going to think of some interesting additions anything from a small tentative suggestion, through to a full blown commercial release. So a range of products with add on modules to extend their lives indefinitely. Again, Alchemy Moon leads the way!
Unfortunately the methodology is well known and really, really basic, every school kid has seen this in the local joke shop. So, how has Alchemy Moon managed to create a piece of strong and relevant theatre from this? Stay Tuned!
In fact it is fair to say that the little man in a box is starting to become the cult classic he always deserved to be and zoltar cards are now flying off the shelf.... Why? ...You tell me! However, this has rekindled my enthusiasm regarding the project - and work on Zoltar Elite is well underway. So what can we expect from the
The Heads
Ancient Celtic heads. A curse from the dawn of time. The sound of a baying wolf across the foggy moor. All we are going to say about the heads project is that you are going to be scared witless. More on this and the upcoming 52 Altars project in the next issue of the Moon.
on the inside. Initial playtesting is very encouraging so far. I am a little excited about this. There are also a range of other additions that I will go into these a little more detail in the next next issue. Obviously, the main differences are the ones everyone has been asking for. Zoltar Elite will be a lot larger, and on card stock rather than laminate. So the whole this will have a certain 40s Chic to it. On top of this, there are another two Zoltar projects in the pipeline! One of these is aimed at the shut-eye community. (not-sure I like that term!) As many of you will have realised, Zoltar is a self sufficient system. You can use the technique to gain information, however, the principles underlying Zoltar are so strong that many (myself included) use it pure most of the time. So a version for the non-magic community is actually already imbedded in the existing Zoltar. So, no need to get too excited about this, as you already have it! However, we will let you get excited about Zoltar Renaissance!
Zoltar Elite
People have been asking me incessantly about this.
My first draft of the original Zoltar book was way too complicated, and I had to remind myself of the aim of producing a fun little introduction into cold reading, rather than a complete system! So Zoltar 2 was being written in parallel to the little man you have in your hand now! The project was shelved because, to be frank, it just did not sell in the numbers we expected. However, for some reason Zoltar has really taken off recently.
I am somewhat influenced by my (now-faded) passion for role playing games - not the ones with gnomes in of course, but Call of Cthulhu . I used to read these and think; what an interesting way to write a book so that the story is constructed in the readers head! I also like the idea of having the core system and then adding supplements and new ideas to it.
beardy wizard this time around. Well all of the central concepts will still be in place, but the cribsheet will go. In its place will be a whole new level of reading that will follow the pattern of the object choosing. i.e. real simple on the outside - as deep as you want
I am hoping to get some photos of these up on the news blog soon. The first four boxes will go out with the first four orders for Death in the Family. Three of these orders are already accounted for. After that customers will have a choice between the original elite box, or the slightly more expensive new box. There is, of course, nothing wrong with the traditional Elite box - these are solid wood and come aged and enhanced with photomorphic imagery, as befits such an item. However, the new boxes are all this, but with special additions. For example, they all come with a fake panel in the lid. The panel falls away at the end of the performance to reveal the final image. Also, the inside of this fake lid is also a pendulum board. This gives a fantastic optional addition to the routine, where audience members are invited to talk to the spirit of Tilly herself! Again, pictures will appear on the news-blog, the web-site and our
totally original art work by Mr. Gould himself (doffs cap and bows). Quite simply, no one else is going to have anything that looks like these babies! As with al Elite items, you can set your own parameters as to size and the image inside the lid. If you have an interesting idea for the box cover design, this too can be arranged. Also, attractively, the first few are being sold pretty much at cost price . So what are you waiting for? www.alchemy-moon.co.uk is where you should be!
More Boxes!
While we are all boxey, have a look at this intriguing object. Something very wicked lies within. However, we may have to wait a while to find out just what it is...... Next up, we have a Special commission I made for Robert Dodge. This box is for the rather excellent Tarot that Lucian designed. Finally, the new super special boxes for Death in the Family Elite. .....you aint seen nothin yet.
Just a quick reminder that the rather fabulous Alchemy Moon Elite Tarot Boxes have gone on sale. These are made with the same loving care as the now sought after Cuss Card Boxes. What is new is that these represent the very first boxes that are built from the bottom up. This is my aim to not only produce intriguing and useful items, but it is also my aim to produce collectors items that due to their rarity will be something for you to treasure through several spins on the Karmic wheel. To add to this philosophy, the boxes are the first to contain
Competition
videos? Sure, as the inventor of the Cuss Cards, Mr Gould should get off his lardy bottom and make his own videos. Alas, after a certain incident at an old folks memorial party his performance licence was taken away and it is now illegal for him to perform anywhere other than in Botswana (yeah, why Botswana? A legal loophole it appears). Why not Paul? He is a nice guy and performs all the time.
Time
Paul here again. So, I try to send Chris a quality performance video and all he can do is criticize my bandana? Sheesh. Make sure you dont wear a bandana in the video. I already have a mesh back truckers hat ready for the next one. Scratch that. I was just told those were cool ten years ago. Maybe I am too old to be cool?
Well we never quite managed to run the competition on the Magic Cafe, as it was banned, as was most things we put up that a certain advertiser objects to! So, we still owe you guys a prize. Here are the competitions running at the moment.
Well... the real reason is that we think it would be good if we use videos of actual performers doing it for real. I mean, if you were going to by something from Elusionist (well, you may well keep quiet about it, but we know) what would you rather see, some idiot in a bandanna, or an actual customer performing it? Anyway, I just think it would be fun.... and dont we need a bit more of that stuff? Now here is the strange thing, although the deadline is for December the first the response has so far been - well.... zero!
So be sure to be there and have a So, er.... whats happening here? bit of fun. Choose your champion and Either no-one wants a set of Cuss Cards, or no one actually performs cheer them along. You can also PM the answers and cheat like anymore. Or.... well you tell me! crazy in this no-wholes-barred competition. So I am going to extend the deadline to the 13th of December. We need three solid submissions before we can actually call it a competition. So, three submissions by the 13th of December - other wise the cards go back in the vault. ...can you Adam and Eve it?! Could be the easiest way of getting a set of Cuss Cards out there!
nature, nothing grand will appear to happen, it is a simple game There will be a prize each month between a willing participant from for a contribution to this news the spectators and the performer. letter. For example, a review of The game seems to go horribly one of our products, a letter to wrong, but in the end, it all works the letters page, a comic strip (well out. What this piece is really this is a news paper!) it is up to about is so much more than that. you. On the surface and presented So get writing....... quickly, it could last 5 minutes, but then everyone will miss the point. Talking of reviews. The Kings Cuss Cards are more than a simple quick effect though; Here is our first review to kick they are a piece of theatre. This is things off. a presentation that could be pulled into a presentation lasting up to It comes from David McDonnell an hour. It is a chance to open a dialogue with the spectators about It is not one of those stupid can curses, superstition, morals and you tell me more about this new many other things. The performer release from the dealer who just will require a good set of acting gave me a sweetie for putting this skills to pull from and will need review up here? thing, nor is it an a strong knowledge of their Oh my God, I have not stopped character and motivations. having a continuous brain-orgasm The Elite set is made to look like since buying your daft little trick. the real thing lending a large thing... amount of credibility to the story It is a good balanced review. you are weaving, and the Kings Now does that not make a change? set are made to be a modern anyway..... reproduction of the original item. Included in the instructions (or is it a guide book?) is a good back story as to why the modern reproduction. On the Alchemy Moon Wiki there is a great tutorial walking you through an aging process to make your Kings Cards look a little more elite if you are looking for something a little older looking. The cards themselves have some very nice artwork in The legend of the infamous Cuss varying degrees of colours and Cards seem unavoidable on the are printed on a heavy card stock. Magic Cafe, but very little has One of the things I did notice (at ever really been said about them, least with my set) is the cards are just rumours and stories. While not all the same size and as a result the Elite set is near unattainable there are some boarders showing any longer, the Kings Cards are in on the cards, or a bit of the edge stock and easily affordable. design is missing and the corners To try and do a review properly took a bit of damage in shipping. the effect must be mentioned, and Nothing a little trimming cannot this is something that is very hard take care of for the most part, and to describe. The effect is simple in the corner damage just makes Talking of Competitions...
them look a bit older and used, or if you are making your own aged set, becomes completely irrelevant. You will also need to have pair of normal dice for Kings Cuss Card game as well. The Kings Cuss Cards, while it does require strong acting skills for its full potential, can be presented by anyone with an average skill set and experience with acting. It can serve the performer well as a training piece, while technically it is very simple it will allow you to focus purely on your presentation and grow and develop it. Those with advanced acting experience will be able to take the Cuss Cards to the limits of their imagination. David J Jinx13
David, as the only contender this month - you win! I will contact you soon in the post about the prize. Well that about wraps it up for this this edition.... So, what is in the future for the newsletter. It would be great if some of you splendid fellows came to the fore with reviews, bits of news, fun stuff or just suggestions or ideas. If we have content we will put it up here. Otherwise, in the future the news letter will be far briefer than this, with an occasional digest that will compile all the posts into this newspaper format.
Reviews
Developers View
The Witch of Glastonbury
by Paul Prater. We thought it would be nice with each newsletter to give you some insight into some of the routines and some background for how they came about. This newsletter we will start with The Witch of Glastonbury. I would like to start by saying that I think that this routine is pure genius. I can say this without a drop of self indulgence because I did not come up with the routine. This was a routine that was originated by Peter Marucci. If you have read the Linking Ring, then you are probably familiar with Mr. Maruccis work since he is regular columnist. I am not the only one who thought that this routine was terrific. Mr. Marucci won an IBM originality award for this routine when he first developed it. This was a routine that I had come across years ago. I liked the plot and I liked the simplicity of the magic which is something that always appeals to me. I am not a finger flinger and never have been. Also, it appealed to me because this allowed me to make some custom props. So, I made myself a set of these cards. I then shared them on the Magic Caf boards where I was promptly attacked and criticized. Needless to say it left a bad taste in mouth, so I kept my creations to myself.
I continued to perform The Witch of Glastonbury and I was consistently pleased with the responses that I received. This was a powerful effect. I thought it a shame that this routine was not on the market and that it should be. I wanted to release this just so it would be available, so I contacted Peter. He was gracious enough to give me permission to release his effect. So, I started making the cards. I prepared instructions and they were in a folded and stapled booklet that I made myself. This was a problem for me. This wouldnt do justice to the routine. I looked at other avenues for printing the kind of book I wanted and it took me awhile to find what I wanted.
I think this was the right decision, because now the instruction booklets that I have produced have consistently received high praise. I think it has come to define my works. At the time, Chris and I were emailing back and forth, but not in any formal partnership. He made some suggestions (which I thought were excellent) which then necessitated me changing the cards, so a new batch of these had to be made. However, it is worth it for a better finished product. Speaking of a better product, each card is still hand cut and hand aged. You can be assured that each set is personally tested by me before they go out.
So, to come back to the Linking Ring, The Witch of Glastonbury was recently reviewed in the November issue. It was in Hocus in Focus as part of their Holiday gift buying section, listing some of their favourite recent effects. They finished the review by stating that [t]his is a beautifully made piece of bizarre story magic with excellent, tastefully done, instructions. I couldnt agree more!
[Hold your two fists out in front of you] Please name any coin - do not think about it - the first one that comes into your head. She says 10p or 50p - if not you say; Correct! That is the coin I was thinking of too! - (i.e. you make the joke, that this was the trick) but let us try and manifest it this time - name another coin..... She names 10p or 50p... We will now cause the coin to materialise in one of my hands. So we need to eliminate one of my hands. Please choose one of my hands - touch it. (This is simple equivoque - as my friends will know I do not perform a routine that does not contain a Magicians Choice of some description!) If she touches the hand without the coin she named - you drop it to your side and say; so we eliminate this hand - please enclose my hand with your two hands. If she chooses the hand with the coin, you just say; This one? Ok, please enclose my hand with your two hands. I now will use a little suggestion. I want you to concentrate on the coin you decided on.... er, I am sorry, I forgot, what was the coin? Yes, sorry - 10p of course. Well concentrate on the 10p and focus into the centre of my hand, see my hand as a chamber where the thought will manifest as matter. You may well feel something odd, warmth or tingling. Please nod when you feel something happening. I cannot go into this in detail here, but there is a lot on your side - she will feel heat from your hand - or tingling because she is holding her hands up and out. Or she may just nod because you are staring at her and she feels uncomfortable and nods because she wants it to end! If none of these work I just say; Wow yes! You felt that too yes? Then I will nod and carry on briskly. Play with it, see what works for you.
I will then move my hand around as if something is materialising. I finish by saying; 10p right? Well, there is something in my hand, I can feel it. But let us see if we managed to materialise exactly what you were thinking of..... Then you open your hand.
Spare Change
Added bits - if you are a bit of a coin man- you will be able to casually show your hands empty at the start. Getting rid of the other coin - just casually slip it into your pocket when the heat is off it - i.e. when the subject is cupping your hands in hers - then you can bring the other empty hand up and hover it over her hands sowing it to be empty, without being obvious. Finally, I do have a way of making the coin materialise in the subjects hand-but dammitt, I am running out of space here!
by Christopher J Gould
Here is a little magic trick with coins!
This is an evolution of an idea from one of my first magic books, Bobos Modern Coin magic and a routine that I saw the wonderful Eugene Burger perform - but all of the evolution and subtleties are mine. This trick entails carrying two coins around in finger palm for the rest of your life. Choose the two coins from your currency that are most likely to be chosen by a randomly enthralled spectator. (In UK money this would be a 10p and a 50p coin). Walk around with these two coins finger palmed. When the opportunity arises perform the following. All matter is thought slowed down - the same energy at a different frequency. Therefor, we can change the vibration of matter into thought, thus making an object transform into a memory of that object - if you think about it, we do this all of the time. But we can also slow down the frequency of thought and allow it to manifest as matter. Again, we do this all of the time; if we desire something in the material universe we must form a mental construct of it before we can manifest it physically. Normally this process can take, hours, months, years or a lifetime to achieve. However, let me demonstrate this with an acceleration of time.
So there you have it Ladies and Gentlemen, the first Alchemy Moon newsletter. Please send your comments, letters, reviews and other stuff to us for the next newsletter. But remember, this is just a newsletter for Alchemy Moon - its not the Mystic Menagerie - so any full articles and Menagerie type stuff should go to that magnificent publication first. However, let us know how you are getting on with all of your wonderful Alchemy Moon artefacts. toodle pip from the Moon....