This month I wanted to provide a small handful of free resources for you to explore and enjoy. All of these are free, but there are ways that you can support the sites should you find them useful. 

1. SHARING WONDER

First up is Magicana’s Sharing Wonder website. Magicana is an arts organization dedicated to the study, exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art. Their web site is a wonderful resource filled with news, reviews, mystery and history, virtual museum exhibitions, and a wonderful library of performance videos. Magicana is the publisher of Magicol magazine

Home Page:
http://www.magicana.com/

Performance Video Archive:
http://www.magicana.com/screening-room

 2. GENII ONLINE

Next up is the new, recently launched Genii Online. Updated daily, this site features magic news, tutorials, feature articles, and videos.

Home Page:
https://geniionline.com/

 3. THE JERX BLOG

One of my favorite web blogs is The Jerx, which is Jamm packed with exceptionally creative thinking from a magician only known to his readers as Andy. Jamm is a reference to his monthly magazine, available to subscribers only, but for now you can view a two-year archive of his writing. This will change in 2018 as the site moves to subscription access only, and while this won’t appeal to everyone, the hard core supporters (of which I am one) will have exclusive access to future content, and will receive a hard bound book (presumably The Jerx Volume 2), at the end of 2018. Some of you may have already heard of his book, The Jerx Volume 1, which was voted book of the year on the Magic Café. It is now out of print and unavailable, but you can still access the material contained in the many blog entries currently archived on his site. Explore it for free, while you still can, and then support the site, and future entries in 2018.

Home Page:
http://www.thejerx.com/

 4. CONJURING CREDITS

Have you ever wanted to know the origin of the Card Duck, or wondered who first applied the concept of Black Art to stage magic? What is the history behind the Retention of Vision Coin Vanish, or The Linking Finger Rings? Well… thanks to a team of dedicated magicians, led by Denis Behr, now you can know all of the above and much, much more, by visiting the Conjuring Credits site.

Home Page:
http://www.conjuringcredits.com

 5. THE INTERNET ARCHIVE

The Internet Archive is a non-profit, web-based library. Founded in 1996, they collect published works and make them available in digital format.  Books in the public domain can be freely accessed and downloaded, while copyrighted works are available to borrow for 14 days. If a particular copyrighted book is already on loan then you will be asked to join a wait list. Magic is only a small portion of the material available for your reading pleasure.

Home Page:
http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Magic+tricks%22&page=3

 6. THE NORTHWEST RING OF FIRE

I would, of course, be remiss if I did not also take a moment to steer you in the direction of our very own club website. Here you will find some helpful links at the bottom of the home page, as well as a page that outlines the current month’s calendar of local events, a complete archive of the club’s monthly newsletters dating back to 2004, a page for The Can-Am Conjuring Lecture Series, and… a page devoted to our club’s lending library, which hosts a large variety of books, DVDs, and even a few VHS tapes which are available to all club members.

Home Page:
http://nwringoffire.com/

Library:http://nwringoffire.com/library.html
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PART TWO:
(Some of) The Best Things in Life are (Virtually) Free
By Evan Shuster

1. CARD COLM

Card Colm was a bimonthly column by Colm Mulcahy sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. This column explored mathematical card principles and effects for fun, very much inspired by the extensive writings of Martin Gardner (1914-2010) on the subject, going back to his seminal Mathematics, Magic and Mystery (1956). Even though the site has not been updated in more than a year you will find an extensive archive and plenty of thought provoking material to explore.

Home Page:
http://cardcolm-maa.blogspot.com/

2. THE DOUG HENNING PROJECT

Created by magic enthusiast and pop culture writer Neil McNally, this site pays homage to one of Canada’s brightest stars. From photos, to stories, to videos, and history, in this regularly updated blog McNally intends to bring Doug Henning to the masses once again through interviews with his master designers, professional acquaintances, and magician admirers.

Home Page:
https://doughenningproject.com/ 

3. MAC KING’S MAGIC IN A MINUTE

Who doesn’t love Mac King? Add a little magic & mischief, and the assistance of Lewis T. Monkey, and you have “Magic in a Minute.”  With an archive dating back to 2011 you’ll have a great time reading this magic-themed comic strip created by Mac & Bill King, and probably learn more than a few tricks along the way. 

Home Page:
http://www.gocomics.com/magicinaminute/2017/12/31
 

4. LITTLE EGYPT MAGIC

Steve Bryant wrote four of the coolest magic books I own. In his own words: “Little Egypt Magic is the erratically updated web site of Steve Bryant, spawned (the site, not Steve) by a former internet magazine known as The Little Egypt Gazette/for magicians only.”

In addition to a monthly newsletter which offers news, reviews, and informed opinions, you can also link to a partial archive of The Little Egypt Gazette (mentioned above).

Home Page:
http://littleegyptmagic.com/magic.html

5. iTRICKS    

Created by Andrew Mayne and Justin Young, iTricks is a combination of news, videos, product reviews, and an archive of the Magic Week podcasts. The site is updated on an irregular basis, but the news feed tends to be kept up to date.

Home Page:
http://itricks.com/news/
 

And, to bring this episode to an end… I once again refer you to a repeat of my conclusion of part 1 of this article:

6. THE NORTHWEST RING OF FIRE

I would, of course, be remiss if I did not also take a moment to steer you in the direction of our very own club website. Here you will find some helpful links at the bottom of the home page, as well as a page that outlines the current month’s calendar of local events, a complete archive of the club’s monthly newsletters dating back to 2004, a page for The Can-Am Conjuring Lecture Series, and… a page devoted to our club’s lending library, which hosts a large variety of books, DVDs, and even a few VHS tapes which are available to all club members.  

Home Page:
http://nwringoffire.com/

Library:
http://nwringoffire.com/library.html

(Some of) The Best Things in Life are (Virtually) Free

– Part 3

By Evan Shuster

This month I bring you six new websites to explore.

1. The People’s Library

Eight centuries of open access books about magic. Currently provides links to 2653 documents, in six languages, to read and/or download.

http://www.marianotomatis.it/biblioteca/index.php?lang=EN

2. The Magic Word Podcast

Magician Scott Wells’ podcast episodes feature his conversations with a who’s who (and who’s soon-to-be who) of magic. His archive currently boasts 410 episodes, and is available via web, and multiple other platforms, including iTunes, Stitcher and Feedpress.

https://www.themagicwordpodcast.com/

3. Vanish Magazine

It all started with the April/May 2012 premier issue, and now 6 years and 44 issues later, Paul Romhany’s online Vanish Magazine is one of the most widely read magic magazines in the world, and… it’s FREE (yup… free). Recent contributors include Paul Romhany, Jim Sisti, Diamond Jim Tyler, Doug Bennet, Nick Lewin, Raj Madhock, and our own Louie Foxx. Issues remain free and downloadable for a month or so after their release, and after that they become available for purchase, so best to stay on the mailing list so you are notified of each new issue upon release.

http://www.vanishmagic.com/

4. The Cups and Balls Museum

This is a site that is maintained by Bill Palmer (you may know him for his translations of Borodin’s works, Sheherazade, and Final Curtain). The self-stated purpose of the online museum, which Palmer curates, is…

1) To collect as many examples as possible of the cups and balls.

2) To preserve these examples so that magicians of the future will be able to examine and study them.

3) To study and preserve the history of the cups and balls, not only in examples of the cups and balls, themselves, but also the literature of the routines they are and were used for.

 4) To help magicians select suitable sets of cups and balls for their own use.

 5) To help manufacturers design cups and balls sets for use by magicians.

 6) To help magicians learn to perform the cups and balls.

Simply put, if you are looking to explore the history of the cups & balls you will be amazed at what you will find here. Requires that you request a password, but this is just to keep spammers and bots away.

http://www.cupsandballsmuseum.org/

5. TV Magic Times

Pretty much is what it says it is… an up to date listing (roughly two weeks at a time) of magic, and magic-related themes on TV. Okay… so it’s Monday, March 5^th, and you’re sitting in front of the television with a remote in one hand and a blank stare at the 700 channel listings. Not willing to admit defeat, you check the TV Magic Times listings and see that Orson Wells is on an episode of I Love Lucy tonight.  But wait… you can also catch the latest episode of The Carbonaro Effect, The choice is up to you, but ultimately, problem solved!

http://www.magictimes.com/

6. Wild About Harry

Everything Houdini. Seriously!

http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/

(Some of) The Best Things in Life are (Virtually) Free

– Part 4

By Evan Shuster

This month I bring you a whopping 7 magic-themed websites to explore. The 7^this a bonus, given that I cheated, and used our club site twice (which I admit was on purpose), bringing our running total now to a proper 24, which is a whole lotta magic to keep you busy online (aside from your particular forums of choice). 

1. Cardopolis

David Britland’s magic blog. Here you will find a combination of tricks, reminiscences, historical quotes, and anecdotes. The site began in 2002, and is irregularly updated. In Britland’s own words, the site contains “Random thoughts of a magical nature. Notes, trivia, and other fragments.”

http://cardopolis.blogspot.com/

2. The Learned Pig Project

This used to be a great website unto itself, created and updated by Panamanian magician Marko. TLPP, as the site was known, provided the reader with a large collection of public domain works.  The site ultimately came to an end, but the content was purchased (and thankfully preserved) by Chris Wasshuber of Lybrary.com. The formatting of a number of these works is a bit “clumsy,” but don’t let that discourage you from exploring the large and important collection of material that is available FOR FREE. You will need to register on Lybrary.com in order to access this free area, but you should be registered anyway, since Lybrary.com is a terrific storefront, offering an enormous selection of digitized resources, both new and old.

http://www.lybrary.com/the-learned-pig-project-tlpp-a-21.html

3. Tenyo Magic Website

A literal ton of information for the Tenyo aficionado (“Tenyophile”). The home page provides 6 “quick link” buttons, and multiple drop-down menus, all leading to an amazing volume of content graciously provided and hosted by John Mazza. Everything from a brief history of the Tenyo company, to creator profiles, a number of patents (which are truly fascinating), sections on performing and collecting, and John’s amazing Planet Tenyo , which showcases his collection, and provides quite a bit of info about each item. There is so much to explore on this site, my brief description cannot do it justice.

http://funstuffonly.com/tenyo/

4. The Card Corner

Mike Powers is an established magician, lecturer, and Linking Ring columnist. His three books of card and close-up magic all hold well-deserved places in my bookcase. The Card Corner section of his site offers a large catalog of video demos of the material he publishes in his Linking Ring column. There is also an area devoted to a variety of tutorials of various card and coin moves. This section is password protected, but easily accessed using the passwords that are revealed in the columns in which the particular moves appear. You’ll find a number of other videos and a few downloadable items (including a free copy of Mike’s PM Principle), as well as convention photos and a number of Mike’s commercially released items for sale.

http://www.mallofmagic.com/cardcorner.html

 

5. The Magician’s Scrapbook

It began as a Blog run by amateur UK magician Sheridan Moffat, who wanted to digitize and share two scrapbooks full of magic related magazine and newspaper clippings. The original scrapbooks were compiled by an anonymous amateur magician at the turn of the century, who maintained them well into the 1930s. Unfortunately, it appears that the last blog entry was back in 2015, and a number of items listed in the indexes of the notebooks have not yet been posted. Perhaps if the traffic at this site increases Mr. Moffat will be encouraged to continue this project. Either way… there’s still plenty of interesting material to draw your attention to this site.

http://www.magicians-scrapbook.co.uk/

6. Magic Week

Each Saturday since July, 2000, Duncan Trillo has published an update on all the latest magic news around Great Britain. The site also provides video archives, product reviews, upcoming television listings, and a variety of links to other material, sites and magic dealers.

http://www.magicweek.co.uk/

7. I.B.M

Yeah… I know what you’re thinking, but when is the last time you actually checked out this site?

It boasts a full listing of all active rings (including a virtual ring), and access to every issue of The Linking Ring, dating all the way back to 1922’s Vol. 1, No. 1. They offer a Card Magic 101 tutorial from Card College professor Roberto Giobbi, and the site even has a spot to buy cool I.B.M. merch.

https://www.magician.org/

 

So… there you have it. Twenty-four links that will lead you to hundreds more, and many, many hours of happy magical discoveries. It all starts with a simple click of the mouse.

Enjoy!