Letters To Friends by John Carey

PDF
30 pages
John Carey is an active participant on the Second Deal and Magic Pebble forums. In his Introduction he states, The title of this latest work comes by way of how I share my material via the net with close friends.
Mr. Carey has lashed together 18 of these effects and released them as a PDF. For some reason, he chose not to re-write this material for sale to the magical masses. If his intent was to preserve the loose, informal nature of these letters, he succeeded, but at a cost.
He doesnt begin each write-up by describing the effect. He mixes together the set-up, method and effect. I found this lack of structure to be irritating as hell.
Some people just dont like certain types of effects, period. Naturally, they dont wish to devote their time to reading about those effects. With this PDF, the reader must wade through the whole write-up just to unearth the effect and determine if it appeals to them. Some readers will understandably feel that their time has been wasted.
At best, Mr. Carey does a passable job of describing the material. His writing lacks detail and depth and is occasionally confusing. He doesnt include fleshed out presentations.
He assumes that the reader is a well-read cardician who possesses an intermediate level of technical prowess. He often refers to techniques by name only. He doesnt actually teach them.
He does a good job of providing attribution, but he repeatedly fails to capitalize the titles of books. How odd.
The PDF lacks pagination.
It also lacks illustrations. Considering Mr. Careys sketchy prose, illustrations or photos would have greatly aided the learning process.
An Approach to the One Deck Do-as-I-Do: A participant freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The performer selects a card and returns it to the deck. The participant removes a card from the deck and the performer places the card in his pocket. The performer removes a card from the deck and the participant places it in her pocket.
The performer names his card, then removes it from his pocket, proving that the participant blindly located it. The participant names her card, then removes it from her pocket, proving that the performer blindly located it. I like it.
Gun Slinger Ace Pro: The performer spreads the deck and the participant touches two cards. The performer removes them and hands them to the participant. She places a card in each of her pockets. She spreads the deck and the performer touches two cards and places them in two pockets. The performer and participant remove the cards from their pockets, revealing the four Aces. I like it.
One Deck again……: The participant freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The performer selects a card and returns it to the deck. The participant removes a card from the deck and places it in her pocket. The performer removes a card from the deck and places it in his pocket. The participant names her card and the performer removes it from his pocket. The performer names his card and the participant removes it from her pocket.
I dont like it due to the fact that the method demands that the performer demonstrate how to put a card in ones pocket. If the participant speaks your language and is at least three years old, they do not need to be taught how to put a card in their pocket!
Two to Tango: Participant #1 cuts off a small packet of cards and silently counts them, to generate her secret number. Participant #2 peeks at a card from the remainder of the deck. The performer cuts the first participants packet into the deck. Participant #1 takes the deck and counts down to her secret number, where she finds the second participants card.
I like the method he describes in his follow-up Notes because it eliminates a cull.
Knowing As I Do: The participant selects a card and places it, sight unseen,