Spun Into Gold - A Tale of Magic , Dreams and Never Giving Up is a brand new book written by our columnist and professional magician Romany .

But what is it about you ask … Here ’ s a snippet from the first chapter .

( You can see a larger preview of the book at www . romanymagic . com / blog )

If you ' re wondering whether this book is going to be your cup of tea , let me be upfront .

This book is about magic : stage magic , real magick and whatever other sort of magic you fancy . It contains golden-wishing dust ; pink fairies ; God ; a Voice – probably belonging to that aforementioned God but who knows ? Cosmic adventures ; love and mar-riage ; un-marriage ; meddling angels ; a purple-haired priestess with one leg ; a

swirling sa-cred Fire ; a whole heap of personal trouble ; a helpful Egyptian lion goddess ; and forty years of trying , trying , trying to inhabit a dream of Light . This book is about keeping hold of your vision for as long as it makes you squeak with excitement any time you come close . It ’ s a book to convince you to ignore anyone and everyone who says “ you can ’ t ”. It ’ s a book about ignoring the even louder voices in your head that tell you in a million nasty ways that you ’ re never going to be or do what you ’ ve always dreamed of doing . This book is about deciding that you ' re going to walk stubbornly towards your heart ’ s desire and not stop until you ’ re there . Where ? There . Then deciding that same thing over and over again , damn it , until it ’ s done . Or you are . Hopefully it . Still here ? So let ' s get started .

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Romany says , “ After Paul got me writing for Vanish , I couldn ’ t stop ! 87,000 words and eighteen months later , my book is ready to have a final professional edit , website and audiobook . I ’ m asking my friends and fans to get involved in my Go-FundMe campaign to make that possible . Any donation will get your name in the book and $ 30 will get a signed & shipped copy of the book when it ’ s out .

This book is not just about my journey to becoming a magician . It ’ s also an honest account of overcoming major mental health issues and finding my way to joy . I hope that it will inspire and encourage other people to do the same . I ’ d like that .

If you would like to help me bring this inspiring tale of magic , adventures , misadventures and dreams to the world , please click on the link ! THANK YOU !!!!

https :// www . gofundme . com / romanySpunIntoGoldBook

A Profile Of Dai Vernon For Canadian Television By David Ben

Nearly twenty years ago , I was able to collaborate with my friend , filmmaker Daniel Zuckerbrot , on a profile of Dai Vernon for Canadian television . At the time , I believed that Vernon was the most influential magician of the twentieth century . I have since reconsidered and now think that he is the most influential magician of all time . This project became an important stone along the path to Dai Vernon : A Biography , published in 2007 .

In addition to the insight provided by performers who knew Vernon , including Max Maven , Herb Zarrow , John Carney , Jackie Flosso , Ricky Jay , Steve Freeman and Persi Diaconis , it was an important opportunity for Vernon ' s children , Edward and Derek Verner , to share their own thoughts and feelings about their father , the magician . It also featured black-andwhite silent footage of a younger Vernon demonstrating sleight-of-hand which we had converted and professionally retouched for the film .

While the film was very well received , it was only available briefly for purchase as a VHS cassette , which was subsequently pirated . The film pops up regularly online , always low-quality copies of copies shared without any credit to those who made the project possible .

Watch : www . magicana . com / spiritofmagic

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