Apocalypse Vol.1 No.6

To Tell The Truth (Gerald Kosky)
Two spectators secretly decide which one of them will be the truth-teller and which one will be the liar. Then a ring is secretly placed into one of their fists. The magician asks one question and he is able to immediately know who has the ring. You may have seen other effects like this out there, but I believe this may be the first version. Please correct me if I'm wrong. To me it just seems not so impressive. I mean, if you can read minds, why do you need to ask them any questions? The methods have developed over the years and I would suggest you check out a modernized version of this effect if you like the plot.

Interlocked Card Production (Vic Sendax)
Your hands are interlocked and shown on both sides; you produce a card from them afterward. God bless you card manipulators out there, I could never do the mechanics of this move! Obviously I won't use it, but if you do card manipulation you should learn it, maybe you'll want to add it to your act. Have fun practicing!

Four by Four (Scott Weiser)
This is not an effect but rather a four for four coin switch. As in four coins are switched in for four other coins. This change can be used as visual coin change or a secret switch. You do have to be seated at a table, but it is a pretty good switch. It ma come in handy if you want to switch out some of those gimmicked coins you use (Don't act you don't know what I'm talking about!). What else can I say? A utility move is a utility move. Just learn it cause you might need it when you're "under fire".

Monte Plus (or Hallucination) (Trevor Lewis)
This is monte move, but not like the usual three card monte type toss move. This is an in the hands monte move. What happens is you show the audience an ace of spades in the middle of two queens, then turn the cards over and the middle card has been switched in the process. This is a nice little move, but just wait a few more issues from now and there will be a variation on this that makes it SO much better!

Hanging Coins (David Roth)
This is a classic! Variations upon variations have been developed, and if you have not seen any version performed before, you must have never seen a coin at all! The basic effect, for those of you who don't know what the effect is, (Lord, help us all) is that you show four coins, then vanish them one-by-one, and then reproduce them one at a time. The patter is that you're hanging them on invisible skyhooks, which doesn't make too much sense to me, but the routine is good. Sure, better versions have been developed, but it can never hurt to learn the original routine, right?

Columns:

Editorial
An editorial about why copying Apocalypse is bad! Curse those Xeraniacs!

Tidings
More books are talked about, some talking about how some effects are buried in books, and some more talking about an effect's unknown roots.

Closing:
Three of the effects in this issue have been improved over time, but it is still really cool to see the original product and the different thinking processes involved. If anyone else has tried To Tell the Truth (Miniserb), please tell me how it went over. Harry says it's a strong piece, but I still think a spectator wouldn't go crazy over it.

Learn the basic Monte Plus move in preparation for the new addition that is coming very soon in the next few issues. (That comment was directed to anyone with the Apocalypse book)

If you have any comments, as usual, just write them below. I'll be happy to answer any questions.

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Past Review Directory:
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.1
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.2
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.3
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.4
Apocalypse Vol.1 No.5