937: Jim Cunningham - The Spirit of Eugene

Jim Cunningham is the voice behind the Eli Marks Mystery Series, penned by John Gaspard. For many seasons, he was affiliated with both the Minneapolis Twins (baseball) and the Minneapolis Wild (hockey) teams. But his real passion is for all things spooky. Many years ago, he called on the Master, Eugene Burger, to help him develop a seance which he still does to this day.

In this episode Jim talks about what it’s like to be a sports announcer personality and how he gets jobs as a book reader for Audible.com books. He shares a very interesting story about how he met and got to work closely with Eugene Burger. Jim also tells about his affinity for all things that go bump in the night. This is a perfect episode for this Month of Boo.

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The winner for Week #2 was Michael Skowronski. Congratulations, Michael. A Houdini Legacy Deck of cards will be awarded to a different winner each week in October. These beautiful cards were designed by the Past National President and artist, John Midgley. If you are interested in learning more about these cards and the cause, then please visit their website at https://houdinicards.com

512: Greg Koren and John Gaspard - New Books for Young and Old

This week we chat with a couple fiction authors who have magicians as the central character in their stories. Greg Koren is up first who talks about his newest book, “The Memory Trap”. The book is directed towards young readers and also for parents to read to their children. The premise of the book is that the central character, Henry Dunne, is about to be suspended from his new middle school for something he didn't do, and the principal's old but beloved car is about to disappear for the last time. Henry and the principal agree to help each other, but these unlikely friends don't realize the deck has been stacked against them, and time is running out. Henry must confront his fears and figure out whom to trust before the sinister force making their lives miserable steps from the shadows to deal the final, crushing blow. In helping to solve this mystery, Henry uses his knowledge of Tamariz’s “Mnemonica” card stack for his “memory palace”.

Greg is a recipient of the Maryland State Teachers Association’s School Bell Award for excellence in education writing, the Associated Press’s Mark Twain award for his feature writing, and six awards from the MDDC Press Association. He is the author of the critically acclaimed one-act play An Arrangement of Convenience, a winner of the Maryland Playwrights Festival, which was produced by the Vagabond Theater in Baltimore in 1989.

Koren fell in love with the imaginative world of middle-grade fiction after becoming a homeschooler and stay-at-home dad for his two children. Currently, he lives with his wife in Baltimore and works as a professional magician and mentalist.

John Gaspard is the author of the Eli Marks mystery series as well as two other stand-alone novels, "The Greyhound of the Baskervilles" and "The Ripperologists." He just completed “The Zombie Ball” as the sixth in the Eli Marks mystery series, which he discusses in this week’s podcast. “The Zombie Ball” opens with Eli being asked to perform his magic act at a swanky charity gala, The Zombie Ball– a former zombie pub crawl which has grown into an annual high-class social event. What begins as a typical stage show for Eli turns deadly when two of the evening’s sponsors are found murdered under truly unusual circumstances. Compounding this drama is the presence of Eli’s ex-wife and her new husband, Homicide Detective Fred Hutton. Under pressure to solve the crime before the 800 guests depart, Eli and his detective nemesis go head-to-head to uncover the bizarre clues that will unravel this macabre mystery.

In real life, John Gaspard is not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less – that’s no small trick. He’s also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget film making. Ironically, they’ve made more than the films. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.

Time Stamps for this podcast:

00:03:35 - Greg Koren talks about his newest book, “The Memory Trap” about a young man who solves a mystery in his school by using his knowledge of “Mnemonica”, a stacked deck.

00:26:43 - John Gaspard tells us about “Sunday Night Magic”, a live, monthly magic show in Minneapolis. He also talks about his newest, sixth book in the Eli Marks magic detective novel series, “The Zombie Ball”.

00:49:05 - an audio book that is an exclusive available here only for listeners of The Magic Word Podcast. You will only hear it here and it’s absolutely free! Enjoy “The Last Customer” in this 20 minute audio book you will not get anywhere else.

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Order your copy through this link to help both the author and The Magic Word Podcast.

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397: John Gaspard - The Linking Rings, an Eli Marks Mystery

John Gaspard's professional magician (and unassuming detective), Eli Marks, is at it again solving crimes while spinning his own web of mystery for his audiences during his visit to The Magic Circle in London, England. Here is a quick overview:

Eli's trip to London with his uncle Harry quickly turns homicidal when the older magician finds himself accused of murder.

A second slaying does little to take the spotlight off Harry. Instead it's clear someone is knocking off Harry's elderly peers in bizarrely effective ways. But who?

The odd gets odder when the prime suspect appears to be a bitter performer with a grudge...who committed suicide over thirty years before.

While Eli struggles to prove his uncle's innocence—and keep them both alive—he finds himself embroiled in a battle of his own: a favorite magic routine of his has been ripped off by another hugely popular magician.

What began as a whirlwind vacation to London with girlfriend Megan turns into a fatal and larcenous trip into the dark heart of magic within the city's oldest magic society, The Magic Circle.

This is the fourth in the Eli Marks series and though it does feature a magician as the central character, it is written for the mystery lover, and not for the magician. John Gaspard is featured in this podcast because although it is related to magic and of interest to magicians, it is not another "how to" book of tricks.

During this podcast, there is a clip from Chapter One read by Jim Cunningham. The full audio is 30 minutes long and will be available from Audible.com in mid-2018. In the meantime and for a taste of the suspenseful novel, Click Here to read the full first chapter.