The Jerx, Volume One
[This book sold out years ago.]
The Jerx, Volume One is the Tarbell Award winner for Best Magic Book of 2016. It has been sold out for many years.
Below is the original ad copy for the book from October 2015.
"This shit is grade-A bonkers, yo!"
The book is about half new material and half material from this site that has been updated and illustrated.
Some of the effects that will ONLY be available in the book, The Jerx Volume 1 are:
And Now He Is Me: You show your friend some of the highlights from the 1978 movie, Magic, starring Anthony Hopkins as a psychotic magician/ventriloquist. You watch a few of the best parts but focus on the scene where he terrifies/seduces Ann-Margret with a Do As I Do routine (like that has fucking ever happened). You then re-enact the scene with your spectator, through failure then triumph. Then things take a turn as the cards in the real world transform to those from the film, all culminating with you arguing with a puppet that unexpectedly appears on your hand about whether you should murder your spectator or not.
Dear Penthouse Forum: Imagine a story deck trick that was actually magical and legitimately funny. You don't have to imagine it. I created it.
I Know What You Need: Quite simply the greatest date trick ever. You offer to cook someone dinner. They have a free choice of 30+ meals (as many as you want to give them). They never tell you anything and you are able to produce the exact meal they asked for. At the end of the trick you are able to provide multiple pieces of physical evidence that show you influenced them to change their mind from what they originally wanted to what you had planned to cook all along. The trick is 100% and it blows people minds. It's great for anyone you might conceivably make (or order) dinner for. And it's ideal for getting to know someone new as it involves five separate interactions over time, leaves a number of interesting/magical relics of these interactions, and the ultimate effect feels very intimate as you have seemingly reached deep into their minds to change their memories and preferences.
A Most Unusual Camera: Your cellphone camera takes pictures of things 5 minutes before they happen.
Shutterlock: My favorite method to reveal a peeked word for a group from 2-20 people. It gets everyone involved and leaves them all with an amusing memento of the trick they can use to remember that night and the effect and to spread word, far and wide, of your greatness.
From the Shadows of the Shallow End: This is my handling and presentation for Out Of This World.
The presentation makes it about something "bigger" than just separating a deck into reds and blacks and justifies every action in the trick.
No indicator cards are used
Just uses a regular deck.
Includes (what I believe to be) a brand new clean-up that is faster than the original, just as easy and not discrepant.
Leaves the spectator with a souvenir of the effect (and no, it's not a playing card), that has meaning, and they will keep forever.
Third-Wave Equivoque: An example of the next generation of equivoque routines that requires no interpretation of the spectator's answers on the part of the magician, and seemingly no ambiguous statements.
FSS (Frequently Said Statements)
$300 is pretty expensive!
It is. I completely get that. The first thing to point out is that the book was printed as part of a rewards package for people who supported this site through the first year. In return for their $5/week donation they received The Jerx, Volume One; the Amateur at the Kitchen Table; the Jerx App; a sponsored post on the site; and 12 issues of my review newsletter and they would be funding the site for a year.
The most important thing to keep in mind if you're a fan of this site is that buying the book isn't just your way to possess a book. You buying the book directly translates into more content for this site. I think people tend to project a more traditional business model on this enterprise. As in, "I see. He writes that blog so he has an outlet to get people to buy his book." But that's backwards. I don't write this site so I can sell books on it. I'm selling books so I can write this site. I take any money I make through this site and use it to "hire myself" -- to buy my time to work on this site (time that would otherwise have to be spent on other freelance work).
The price is also a function of three things. 1 - Wanting to do a good quality physical product, not just a cut and paste version of the website. 2 - Wanting to have a lot of exclusive content in the book. 3 - Having a relatively small audience.
I'm going to get a pirated copy of the book.
That's strange logic to me. If you like this site enough to want to have the book, then you're only shooting yourself in the foot by trying to rip the book off because you're negatively affecting the longevity and content of this site. This isn't like torrenting Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials where you're maybe affecting some billion-dollar studio's bottom-line. You're affecting the thing itself that you supposedly care about it.
It's not about ripping me off. As I said, after the book is released I won't really have too many copies to get rid of anyway. But I'm pretty protective of the people who contributed to the site and I want to do my best to maintain the value of what they've invested in. So I've come up with a couple unique security features for the book. I might not be able to stop someone from photographing every page and putting some bootleg copy online, but I will know who did it. And now you're fucking with someone who can be completely ruthless, has a platform to call you out on, and no compunction about making your life miserab
I've been dreamin' about the demon of steamin' semen in your trousers. Will you trace it in its flaccid state on the first page of the book and then fully aroused on the last?
Good lord, you wouldn't think this would be asked so "frequently" but it comes up all the time. Sure, I'll personalize the book however you like.