Exclusive FUN Interview with John Bannon

After many promises, here it is: my exclusive interview with creator and author John Bannon. John has written three books, and created several marketed effects including Twisted Sisters. The first in his new trilogy of fractal card magic, "The Royal Scam," will soon be released, exclusively through FUN Inc, starting this Friday!

Q: How did you get started in magic?

I started in Norfolk, Virginia while in high school. A primary influence was the great Woody Landers. Woody would come down from Richmond to the magic club and would always be doing the latest card and coin tricks. He was very generous and skillful. I did table magic for a while, then an occasional walk-around gig when I lived in Washington D.C. After moving to Chicago, I stopped doing even the occasional paid performance. Once, while I was performing strolling magic at a charity function, I turned around to see the managing partner of my law firm. I didn't want the firm to think they weren't paying me enough, so now I perform primarily informally.

Q: What is your creative process like?

It varies. Sometimes I see a trick that I think I could improve upon, or sometimes I take a plot and work on it. Often enough, you see or read something, and play with the concepts for a while, add or subtract, and eventually I may come up with something workable--even if it no longer resembles the trick that I started with. Some times I let ideas percolate--set them aside and come back later. I find my subconscious can make progress even if I am not directly thinking of a trick. Part of the fun for me is to work on stuff --that's the hobby. This new series started several years back; I set a number of requirements for a certain class of tricks. The driving requirement was being clean at the end. Starting there, I focused on the classic areas and tried to work out tricks that met my requirements. At least in a few instances, I succeeded.

Q: Where did the phrase "Fractal card magic" come from?

At the 31 Faces North convention in Toronto, I did a presentation on "packet" tricks. Every now and then, the term "packet trick” gets a negative connotation --but I have alwys liked them. When I was in DC one of my magic colleagues was the great Larry West--of Emerson And West. I have never thought it was uncool to take a packet of cards out of the little wallet, do a trick, and put the cards away. One night at the convention, we brainstormed to try and create create a new term for "packet tricks"–sometimes a new name can give you a new way of looking at something.

In mathematics, a fractal is "an object or quantity that displays self-similarity, in a somewhat technical sense, on all scales. The object need not exhibit exactly the same structure at all scales, but the same "type" of structures must appear on all scales."

In a non-mathematical sense, tricks with fewer cards than the entire deck would exhibit many of the same characteristics, but on a smaller scale. There would be self-similarity in the sense that the same "structures" (such as transpositions, color-changes, divination of selected cards) could exist without needing the entire deck.

Besides, I like how "fractal" sounds. "Fractal card magic" seems like a good trademark-able name for what we used to call packet tricks.

Q: Tell us about the creation of Twisted Sisters.

It was created by playing with one plot and then borrowing from another plot. There is a class of tricks called "small packet brainwave," (like Max Maven's "B'wave.") where a card in a packet is named and the named card is reversed and has a different color back. Then there’s another class I call"small packet card transpositions"; for example, where you might have four red-backed aces and four blue-backed aces, and each named ace transposes to the other packet. There are several methods. I first saw this trick in Vernon's. It occurred to me, "you know, if you did the small-packet brainwave with two packets at the same time you could get a small-packet-transposition." Then all I had to do was work it out. The rest is, as they say, history.

Q: Any plans for another book?

Yes. I’m always working on something. Right now my current project has to do with card tricks that begin by having a spectator think of a card, opposed to physically selecting one. Working title, "Mentalissimo." That's all I want to say on that for now.

Q: What suggestions would you give a beginner who wants to start in magic?

The obvious answer is to read as much as possible. I believe that even if you’re just doing someone else’s tricks, there’s still a creative process, in order to do things in your own way. The best way to make that happen is to read and learn all sorts of different ways. The more you learn, the more things connect. The more connections, the more of a network you have to bounce around in. The larger the network, the deeper your understanding will be. The more you know, the better you’ll be, even if you don’t perform all of it.

So the most important thing is to take it seriously, study, and learn as much as you can. These days a lot of people would rather watch than read, and while there is a place for video, but I think you get more from a well-written book than a well-produced DVD. That's why I insisted the FCM trilogy each contain a downloadable e-book. The other thing is to perform. You really will not understand a lot about magic unless you do.