It's Monday and you know what that means... Monday Mail Call! Today's note is a bit retroactive, not specifically things I received in over the last week, but noteworthy nonetheless.
Let's kick things off with Vanishing Inc.'s 2024 Year in Review! As expected, their review starts out with their biggest, in my opinion challenge to date. In early June, a devastating overnight fire destroyed their warehouse, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of books, collectibles, and unreleased tricks. Fortunately, no one was injured. Demonstrating resilience, the team resumed shipping orders from a temporary location on the same day and retained all 48 staff members without delays in pay or unpaid bills!
By year's end, Vanishing Inc. fully recovered and returned to pre-fire operational levels. They introduced free worldwide shipping with no minimums, enhanced their customer service, and expanded their digital offerings, including making all their books available as ebooks. Additionally, they announced that "The Session 2025" will be live-streamed, reflecting their commitment to innovation and community engagement.
This summary is miniscule and leaves out a ton of detail, so if you're interested in catching up, give their year in review a read!
This month's issue of Love Letters landed in my inbox this morning. Or, late last night? Either way, it's here and I already skimmed the first few pages ... I'm gonna love this one!
In this month's issue, Jerxy is highlighting some of his favorite tricks from Genii Magazine from 2024. Coming in at 25 pages long, including the cover, we get an overview of 8 tricks and Andy's thoughts on each. As usual, he doesn't explain how the tricks are performed, only the effect themselves. Then again, I only skimmed so maybe he tells how they're done too 🤷♂️. I subscribe to Genii though, so I have the full rundown as it is!
In 2020, there was a Kickstarter campaign for "CC Club Playing Cards". What was "CC Club", you ask? Conjuror's Community... Club. It was more than just a deck of cards, it was access to an online training program with a ton of tutorials, chats, etc. And one of the add-ons was to get a copy of Aaron Fisher's revised 20th Anniversary Edition of The Paper Engine! I wrote about this a few years back, and honestly forgot about it for a good year or so.
Well, the latest update (... from June 2024) says that the book's ready, for the most part, and that Vanishing Inc. will be printing it! I haven't heard a peep about it from Vanishing Inc. though, and no other updates came out since then, so I'm slightly concerned that this isn't true... I guess I could reach out to VI and ask?
Oh, speaking about big promises and delays, but one that actually has decent updates and legitimate reasons: Dan Harlan's MasterWorks!
I met Dan Harlan at MagiFest last year and he briefly talked about the work he's putting in on his MasterWorks ... work. It'll be three volumes that total likely near 1000 pages. Anyways, what's cool about pre-buying it is that you're supporting his effort to actually write the thing, but better yet, he sends regular updates and often includes parts of the book he's working on! Like, the actual tricks!
Unfortunately, his latest update mentions a bit of a delay due to "needing to work to live"... but hey Aaron Fisher, you should emulate this guy, he knows how to interact with an audience!
Well that's about it folks. I did get a book in recently, but I want to write more about it so you'll have to wait before I share details about it. Okay, okay, it's Repertoire II by Asi Wind!
Stay tuned for the next iteration of Monday Mail Call, there's a lot more to come!
Oh also, if you'd like to offer suggestions for books, tricks, decks or if you have questions about magic (performing, routines, sleights, etc.), just reach out here.