Until October... and the Jerx Attic Sale

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This is the final post for September. Regular posting resumes, Monday, October 6th. The next issue of the newsletter will be sent Sunday, October 5th.

The Jerx Attic Sale

Whenever I produce a book or other item for sale, I need to order a few extra in case things get lost or damaged in the mail. My friend who handles most of the mailings has held onto these extra items for the past few years. However, he is moving soon and I want to get these off his hands and into the hands of people who want them.

So, on Saturday, October 4th, at noon New York time an email will go out to current supporters with a link to the Jerx Attic Sale.

What will be available?

There are a few copies of the most recent book. Anyone who picks up one of these will also open up a slot for themselves in the Rich Uncle Millionaire support tier if they want it.

There are a few copies of the hardcover version of my monograph The Amateur at the Kitchen Table.

There are a few copies of the E.D.A.S trick I released a couple of years ago.

The very last of the stock of Jerx Decks (only 2 or 3 of each are available, I believe).

A couple sets of the Twickle Hands will be available, with the profits going to charity.

I will have some GLOMM pins available as well.

There will also be a couple of one-off items available. They will likely go quickly.

I don’t think you need to be there immediately at noon to pick up the other items since:

A) This sale is only open to supporters.

and

B) Most supporters who wanted these items in the past would have already picked them up.

That being said, I wouldn’t wait too long. I would expect the one-off items to be gone in minutes and everything else to be gone within an hour or so.

These items will sell at the original price supporters paid at the time. There won’t be a mark-up because they’re the last pieces.

So if you’re interested, set a reminder or an alarm. Or really get into it and wake up at 4am and camp out in front of Walmart like it’s Black Friday. A few hours later, when the doors open and people ask, “What are you doing?” Say, “I’m in line for the Jerx Attic Sale,” like that’s a sentence that makes sense. At 11:58am, rush into the store, unnecessarily trampling people on your way to the computer section so you can hop on a laptop for the noon email

In the last Love Letters newsletter, I wrote briefly about the Invisible Harmonica trick from Penguin.

I’ve seen a lot of bad performances of this which look like you fiddling with something underneath an object, then you blowing into it and making the harmonica sound, then you fiddling with the thing in your hand again.

Here’s a handling tip I didn’t mention in that write-up that helps disguise some of that.

I like to use a folded napkin. It blurs the line of believability—“Wait… folded edges of a napkin can’t produce a harmonica sound… could they?”—in a way that, say, blowing into a banana doesn’t. With a banana, the audience just thinks, “Okay, where’s he hiding the mini-harmonica?”

But it also has the added benefit that getting the edges of the napkin “just right” accounts for fiddling needed to get the gimmick in place.

To clean up, I bring the napkin and my hands from my mouth down to chest level and take a shallow bow. That little motion helps mask whatever my hands are doing to clean up.

As I said a week or so ago, this site isn’t going to become an anti-AI or anti-online-magic space. But I am leaning more and more into the idea that the most potent usage of magic is as a tool for real-world connection. Which means that when I come across writing about the value of human interaction, I see that as magic content—even if the author didn’t mean it that way. Because to me, those reminders of presence and human connection are as much a part of magic as sleight of hand.

Take, for example, this bit from Kurt Vonnegut.

See you all back here in October where I will give you helpful tips for your spooky season shows. I’m the Martha Stewart of Halloween magic. Maybe try drawing jack-o-lantern faces on orange sponge balls for added spooky cheer. Or doing the Mummy’s Finger illusion by placing your little weenie in the hole in the box for a fun Halloween thrill.