Earlier this week I received a copy of Queen Spirit by John Bannon. It was advertised to me through typical email marketing and being a sucker for books I don't own, that actually sound like something I'm interested in, I ordered it =P
Here's the quote that really explained what the book is about to me the most:
Queen Spirit is filled with commercial close up card magic that offers the perfect blend of efficiency and impact. Every effect is examined through the lens of the classic Seven-Card Assembly, a super fun and powerful effect that is far too often overlooked by most magicians.
Now, I'm not a huge card packet trick person. I prefer a full deck. I even went through a whole year to two year phase where I refused to even consider a packet trick as something I'd do. And then I learned Oil & Queens by Roy Walton and I realized that I was just being dumb and stubborn.
I've never performed any variation of Ace Assembly before, but I'm quite familiar and have practiced it a time or two. In Queen Spirit, I'm only through the first chapter (Girl Group Story) so far so I can't write a full review, but I'm rather impressed by the presentation.
There are a decent number of discrepancies in the handlings, but Bannon not only acknowledges them but he also goes as far to claim that they're not picked up on by the audience. I'm practicing all three of the routines in that chapter right now and will likely perform them tonight or later this week, so we'll see how much memory retention people actually have!
After I have a chance to read through the whole thing I'll write a proper review. I just wanted to share with you what's pulling my attention currently and it just so happens to be the four queens =]
If you're interested in grabbing a copy of your own, check it out here on Vanishing Inc.'s website.