Mentzer, Jerry: Cunning Card Miracles
©1999 Jerry Mentzer
Softcover, perfect-bound, 5.5x8.5", 76 pages

Comments: This is a smaller book of card magic, containing many effects that can be performed with a minimum of sleights, though still having good impact. Several of the effects are gems from the Encyclopedia of Card Magic. Favorites include: Think Stop, The Magic Thrust and U Find Your Card, Hummer Odd Back and Canning's Baby Hummer, Spectator Finds Your Card, Miraskill, and Four Way Coincidence. Good for the price.

Contents:

1 Comments regarding "self-working" card tricks

3 Chapter One: Magic with Key Cards
5 Think Stop: Card selected, returned, and deck shuffled. Deck spread face up. Spectator moves finger along, thinking "stop" when over selection (though not stopping). Performer reveals card. Includes Classic Force "out"
8 Mental Vision (Glenn Gravatt): Four cards are selected and returned to deck. Performer is able to discern all 4 cards. (key card)
9 Behind the Back Key. A quick idea for use of a bottom key card.
10. Two Selections: Two cards selected, one returned to face up deck, other returned to face down deck. Cards wind up on top of the deck together.
11 Out On Location (Al Baker): Card is selected and returned to deck, magician looks through cards, removes a packet, and asks card to be named. Card is immediately shown in packet.
12 Elimination Prediction (Randy Tanner): AS spectator shuffles cards, performer writes prediction. Cards are dealt and eliminated, until remaining card is prediction
15 Another Lie Detector: Spectator selects card and returns it. Spectator deals cards and names them, lying when he reaches his card. Magician detects the lie.
17 Two Keys: use of two keys allows spectator to perform final shuffle. Includes good Ed Marlo idea of determining one of two choices made
21 Chapter Two: Miscellaneous Tricks
23 The Magic Thrust (Ted Annemann): Card is selected and returned. Second spectator selects card, it is placed face up on top. Deck is placed behind the back of spectator, who takes the top card and places it in the middle. The selected card is found next to the face up card. (Hidden Charlier Pass)
24 U Find Your Card (Lu Brent): Deck split into two halves. Spectator selects card from his half and put it on top. Halves are joined. Spectator placed deck behind back, places top card to bottom, turns second card over and puts it in the middle. Face up card is found next to selected card.
25 It Takes a Year: a counting revelation with 4 Ace climax
26 Five Card Mental Force (Dai Vernon): True magic, when it works! One card of 5 is "forced"
27 Get Thee Behind Me, Satan: identical routine to U Find Your Card. Not sure why it's in here twice.
28 A Moving Revelation: mathematical revelation using a stacked deck
30 Move A Card (Moris Seidenstein): a one way backs idea

35 Chapter Three: Hummers (Bob Hummer)
37 Basic Hummer: Bottom card of 4 card packet becomes the only reversed card
39 Beyond Hummer (Persi Diaconis): as above
41 Hummer Odd Back (Tom Craven): Nice variation where back ends up different as well. Includes clean-up.
44 Hummer Clean-Up: A Tom Craven variation.
45 Canning's Baby Hummer: A 6 card variation

49 Chapter Four: Features
51 Spectator Finds Your Card: Performer selects a card, spectator deals 2 piles, top two cards correctly predict value & suit.
54 Pairs (Ted Gillam): Uses Glide & Stack. Pairs are dealt. Only those pairs made by the spectator match.
55 Master Poker Deal: Three poker deals, spectator always loses
60 High Card Poker Deal (Nick Trost): Spectator cuts & shuffles deck, yet performer deals 5 pat poker hands (stack)
62 Improved Marvelous Prediction (Charles Jordan): Deck stack allows two cards to be revealed.
63 Miraskill (Stewart James): Deck dealt in pairs. Two reds go to spectator, two blacks to magician, mixed pairs are discarded. When done, a prediction is read: spectator's pile will have 4 more cards than magician's". Effect is repeated, prediction now states that both will have the same.

67 Chapter 5: Stunners
69 Four Way Coincidence (John Murray): Impromptu speller, where spectator finds the three matches to his selection.
72 Deck Memorization (Mike Boden). Uses stack and Gilbreath Principle. One half deck dealt out, performer correctly "reads" reds & blacks.