Nick Diffatte's first hardbound collection is not jam-packed with oodles of tricks. What fills its pages are deceptive, engaging, real-world routines devised and developed by one of the hardest-working, laugh-provoking, multi-talented performers

Is magic an art? Magicians have been thinking about it in the wrong way for more than a century. If you feel that the question is merely academic, Brushstrokes explains the value for every magician, with examples from history and from current

Looks like an ordinary padlock, doesn't it? The difference is…it doesn't open for just anyone! Without the secret most people find themselves LOCKED OUT! Ingenious mechanism allows those "in the know" to instantly open the lock with no trouble

The spectator selects a card and writes the number and suit on a sugar envelope. The magician opens the envelope, pours the sugar on the spectator's forearm and the selected card appears written on the skin. It is the old and great "ashes on arm"

It's absolutely brilliant! Both the premise and the method-Shimshi. From the creative minds of The Other Brothers comes an effect that is five years in the making - one of the very first concepts ever developed by the imaginative duo.

Imagine a couple carefully examining two ancient Chinese coins, one red and one black. Then they begin to attract each other like magnets and finally merge into one in the hands of the couple. This is a miracle full of meaning and emotion. The