SYNOPSIS:
Paramiracles presents the professional mentalism of Ted Lesley, organized and written with Stephen Minch. The book contains more than three dozen routines, techniques, utility devices, and performance essays developed from Lesley’s working repertoire. Its material ranges from intimate billet and business-card demonstrations to predictions, psychometry, book tests, card divinations, metal bending, newspaper effects, and larger cabaret-style presentations.
Major subjects include Lesley’s marked-business-card system known as Black Magic, center-tear and billet-reading work, forcing decks, prediction indexes, pseudo-psychometry, impression methods, the Teleport Envelope, book tests, headline predictions, and Pro-Monition, in which a freely named card is discovered in the performer’s pocket. The collection also includes unusual physical mysteries, including Mind Over Meniscus, where an isolated wine glass appears to bend.
Alongside the routines, Lesley discusses his influences, professional experiences, presentation choices, and practical methods for performing mentalism in close-up, private-party, and cabaret environments. The opening autobiographical section also provides background on Lesley’s career and the magicians who shaped his work.
Book Details:
Author/Creator: Ted Lesley
Publisher: Hermetic Press
Publication Year: 1992
Subjects: Mentalism, Cards, Parlor Magic
Pages: 293
Skill Level: Advanced
Availability: Out of Print
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction — T. A. Waters (p. ix)
Foreword — Toni Forster (p. xi)
Notes on My Life with Friends (p. 1)
Chapter One: Tricks of Raised Consciousness (p. 13)
• Dany Ray and Marcelle (p. 14)
• The Split Card (p. 19)
• The Will De Seive Gimmick (p. 19)
• The Jontay Gimmick (p. 20)
• The Koornwinder Gimmick (p. 21)
• The Breather Crimp (p. 21)
• The Principle (p. 24)
• The Kismet Connection (p. 27)
• Two Decks with But a Single Thought (p. 34)
• The More Frequent Miracle (p. 36)
• Medium in Your Pocket (p. 42)
• Alpha (p. 46)
• Nap on the Ridge (p. 49)
• The Out of Sorts Variations (p. 52)
– Out of Sorts: Variation One (p. 56)
– Out of Sorts: Variation Two (p. 58)
• Seer of the Trivial (p. 60)
• Princess of the Opera (p. 69)
Chapter Two: Paperworks (p. 77)
• Boris Bossi and Eschi (p. 78)
• Thoughts Untouched (p. 81)
• Black Magic (p. 89)
• Dissertation on the Center Tear (p. 93)
Chapter Three: Arsenal (p. 105)
• Raxon (p. 106)
• Spare Change (p. 109)
• The Working Professional’s Switch Pad (p. 111)
• Border Intelligence (p. 115)
• Dream Decks (p. 117)
• Symbolico (p. 121)
• Effects for an Invisible Author (p. 125)
– The Book Test (p. 126)
– Living and Dead (p. 126)
– Pseudo-psychometry (p. 126)
• The Mentalist’s Close-up Corner (p. 128)
• The Mentalist’s Tablecloth (p. 132)
– The Dung Beetle Revelations (p. 134)
– The Living Dead (p. 137)
– Greased Ghost (p. 138)
– Grand Mal Geller (p. 139)
Chapter Four: Pro-monition (p. 145)
• Ralf and Inge Bialla (p. 146)
• Pro-monition (p. 149)
Chapter Five: New Pseudo-psychometric Exercises (p. 163)
• Alexander Adrion (p. 164)
• Technicolor Graphology (p. 170)
• Cimmerian Psychometry (p. 173)
• Black Magic² (p. 177)
Chapter Six: The Teleport Envelope (p. 185)
• Milo and Roger (p. 186)
• Serial Killer (p. 191)
• Sign Onboard (p. 194)
• Herald from the Invisible Realms (p. 196)
• The Sough of Horses’ Wings (p. 203)
• Construction of the Teleport Envelope (p. 211)
Chapter Seven: Brainbusters (p. 219)
• Billy McComb (p. 220)
• News Time (p. 223)
• My Telephone Directory Test (p. 232)
• Mind Over Meniscus (p. 242)
• Guiding Star (p. 251)
• Pay Blaze (p. 255)
• Early Edition (p. 263)
Chapter Eight: Mind Bender (p. 273)
• Marvyn and Carol Roy (p. 274)
• Mind Bender (p. 277)
Do the Right Thing: A Parting Word (p. 291)
