Labyrinth

Labyrinth was a booklet-size journal published by Stephen Hobbs that ran sporadically for 5 years from 1994 until 1999. Each issue was limited to 100 copies. Every other issue of Labyrinth featured the magic of one particular person.

A complete file consists in 13 issues. The final issue was numbered 12 because there were two parts to Issue 8.

Issues

Issue No. 4

Alain Nu issue. An additional 100 copies were printed for Alain to use as lecture notes. They were identical to the actual issue except that on the cover it also says, "The Mentalism of Alan Nguyen"

• VooDoo Redo – The performer displays a voodoo doll, a pin cushion with 6 pins stuck in it and a stack of cards each bearing the name of a different part of the human anatomy. Three body parts are selected using three pins. The pins are subsequently stuck into the corresponding parts of the voodoo doll. It is then revealed that there is a second doll hidden in the pin cushion. The doll is removed to reveal that it has three pins stuck in exactly the same positions as the spectator’s doll.
• Rune Speller Fortune Teller – Using a set of rune dice the performer divines a thought of word.
• Bender Ender – A spoon is placed in the folds of a regular handkerchief which is held by a spectator. The performer gestures around the handkerchief which is seen to move slightly. The spectator unwraps the spoon to find it bent into a corkscrew.
• On Books & Good Looks – One of Alain’s specialties is the book test and this chapter examines six techniques that he uses in ungaffed book tests. These techniques are Peek-to-Peek, Page Number Rifle Force, the Romantic Reader, the * Silver Dollar Force, the Natural Anagram Principle and the Peek Bank. Alain feels that with these procedures you can rival any effect that is possible with gaffed book tests with the added advantage of being able to give the books away or to leave them casually on the table at the end of your performance.
• Over-Draun Challenge – Alain’s adaptation of Draun’s Fan Glimpse to three cards.
• The Red-Black Stack – Alain’s walk around instant reset version of Paul Curry’s “Out of this World.”
• Invisibility Watch – Alain’s presentation for the Invisible Deck

Issue No. 9

All of the effects in this issue have an Los Angeles connection:

• Time Flies – The flight of a thought of card from one deck to another from the mind of Dean Dill.
• Con-Clue-Sion – A Phil Goldstein and Stephen Hobbs contribution that lets you predict the outcome of a game of Clue – the murderer, the weapon and the room.
• The Trans-Pocket Switch and Applications – John Gustaferro’s technique for convincing an audience that a card has flown to your pocket along with four additional applications.
• Dunbury Aces – Part of Steve Silverman’s Magic Castle act, a Dunbury Delusion effect where the “prediction” cards transform into the three mates of the selection.
• Multi-Level Dealing – Another part of Silverman’s Castle act, this is a demo of false dealing inspired by Bruce Cervon’s “Devil’s Elevator”. At the end of this routine, the four random cards transform into the four kings.
• Multiplex Interchange – John Lovick’s extension of Jack Carpenter’s “Pocket Interchange.”

References

• http://www.geniimagazine.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=201397#Post201397