Random Acts of Magic

Random Acts of Magic is David Acer's third book of original material, published in December of 2004 by the Camirand Academy of Magic and featuring more than 60 routines with cards, coins, markers, cell phones, matchbooks, matches, receipts, elastics, bottles, balls, bills, wallets, ties, spoons and finger rings, plus anecdotes, road stories, and the first 12 hilarious, thought-provoking essays from David’s column in Genii Magazine.

Table of Contents

• Introduction to the Foreword by Barry Julien by David Acer
• Foreword by Barry Julien
• Introduction by David Acer

CHAPTER I: Extrovert at the Card Table

• Over Easy
• Changes
• Over Easier (Max Maven)
• Lucky Day
• Splittant Aces
• Splittant Jr.
• Colour Inversion
• Uppity
• The Madden Force (Ryan Madden)
• Separation Anxiety
• Count On It (with Jay Sankey)
• Repeat Offender
• The Charlier Control (Huot/Duperre)
• Overtime
• Child’s Play (with Jay Sankey)
• Unlawful Entry (with Richard Sanders)
• Rub Down
• Over Easy Scrambled (Joshua Jay)
• The Flipwiches of Eastwick (with Jay Sankey)
• Assimilation
• Royal Flash
• Misguided Angels (with Jay Sankey)
• The Sliding Double Lift
• Open Time Traveller
• Mad Card Disease
• Tangent
• New Millennium Ace Deuce Trey
• Time Boards (with Richard Sanders)
• King’s Ransom
• MouseHunt
• Switchback
• Jim’s Pick
• Photo Finish (with Michel Huot)
• Meta-Four
• Twice Removed (with Simon Lovell)
• The Painted Deck
• Party of Six

CHAPTER II: Magic By Mister Direction

• Coke Induced
• Unflappable
• Ringworm (Richard Sanders)
• Make This Disappear
• Upon Receipt
• New Millennium Tenkai Pennies
• Unburnt (Barry Julien)
• Breakneck
• Pocket Exchange (with Richard Sanders)
• Hot Pursuit
• High Invisibility
• The Edible Coin (Torkova)
• Bespectacle
• Seedling
• Cap In Hand (with Jay Sankey)
• Fresh Mint
• Plop! (Richard Sanders)
• Packs a Wallet!
• Under Foot (with Jay Sankey)
• Get Bent!
• Take a Seat (with Michel Huot)
• Mitosis

CHAPTER III: Confessions of a Road Warrior (The First 12 Genii Essays)

• Introduction
• Bombing
• The Suits Vs The Talent
• Books Vs Videos
• Oh Canada!
• The “Witness” Approach
• Prop-aganda
• Pet Peeves
• The Dark Side
• A Piece of the Rock
• The Fine Art of Bio Writing
• The Julien Incident
• Five Card Mental Farce

A Few Highlights

• Mitosis: Predict a cellphone number during walkaround work, at someone’s home, or on stage.
• Misguided Angel: The angel on the back of a signed, selected Bicycle card visibly rotates 180 degrees, whereupon every angel in the deck follows suit. The selection can then be handed out as a souvenir, and the deck can be examined.
• Ringworm: A borrowed finger ring that's been dropped into a coin purse changes places instantly with a knot tied at the center of a piece of rope.
• Unflappable: A jaw-dropping torn-and-restored matchbook.
• Time Boards: The magician performs a strange version of Triumph in which the deck becomes a time-keeping device, ultimately revealing the correct time at the end of the trick.
• New Millennium Tenkai Pennies: A coin initialed by a spectator travels invisibly to join a coin initialed by the magician, then, during a second attempt, only the initials travel, leaving one coin blank and the other coin with both sets of initials.
• Changes: The impromptu card routine David used to open his Magic Castle close-up act in which the pips on two chosen cards travel back and forth from one to the other in eye-popping ways.
• Fresh Mint: Mint a piece of foil into a coin at your fingertips.
• Open Time Traveller: The magician offers disturbingly convincing proof of having travelled back in time during a card trick and changed something in the past.
• Coke Induced: A cap is removed from a Coke bottle and visibly changes into a beer-bottle cap, whereupon the Coke bottle is shown to have become a beer bottle.
• Party of Six: Six people each choose a card from a shuffled deck, then line up on stage, whereupon the people are shuffled. An audience member who was holding a prediction from the start is asked to choose one of the people. The chosen person shows his chosen card, which matches the prediction.

A Sampling of Reviews

“...the great bulk of the material is excellent. This is some of the stuff David actually uses in his act, excellently credited, and a pleasure to read.” Matthew Field, The Magic Circular

"Random Acts of Magic is a hefty tome, filled to the brim with the type of close-up magic that will bring tears of joy to Acer fans around the world." Michael Close, MAGIC

"I’m reluctant to mention my favorite effects because I don’t want to encourage readers to skip over the rest of the material and miss out on making some discoveries... David’s writing style is something of a rarity in magic books: it’s actually entertaining. The book made me laugh out loud a number of times. Especially amusing is a satirical essay originally printed in Genii magazine about the efficacy of Vernon’s Five Card Mental Force. It’s a brilliant piece of writing." David Parr, www.mylovelyassistant.com

"David Acer’s reputation suffers, I think, from his surfeit of wit, leading one to perhaps assume that the magic he performs is only for those with a comic bent. Of course this is not at all true... In this book are many terrific effects, most with a presentation included that can be augmented or adjusted to suit personal taste." David Regal, Genii Magazine