December Genii Speak

We’re very proud to bring you the Conover Collection, which is to say that it’s a tribute to the life and career of the late Tim Conover, and it also proudly offers excerpts of the new book, Conover, published by Vanishing Inc. In Genii you’ll find great profiles from his friends in magic, including Eric Mead (coauthor of the book), Jamy Ian Swiss, and Bob Kohler. And you’ll also find detailed descriptions of his fantastic magic as well as his approach to misdirection. The  book, Conover,  will be published by Vanishing Inc. late in November. It’s been arranged in a regular edition of three volumes, and a deluxe edition that includes a fourth volume. The book has been highly anticipated by magicians.

Our Genii issue has been assembled, in conjunction with the publishers, by our editor Noah Levine. He’s put it together over the last few months, from the personal feature stories to the magic excerpts from the book, as well as Conover’s essay on misdirection. You can look at it as a special holiday gift that’s been neatly wrapped and delivered to your door: a collection of fascinating insights about Conover’s legendary work and a generous peek at an upcoming book. 

Noah explains his own connection to the subject and the authors:

I only met Tim Conover once, and only corresponded with him lightly, but I have been deeply enamored with his body of work for over 20 years. 

We enter the world of magic as idealists who wish to perform and share the impossible, but with time the need for compromise begins to cloud our judgment. Even our greatest practitioners are occasionally guilty of “getting away with it” and making choices in the name of “practicality.” Tim never compromised his vision of what magic could be and has been a great source of inspiration to countless magicians. I’m thrilled that this issue of Genii will help familiarize readers with the Conover touch and am grateful to Bob Kohler, Jamy Ian Swiss, Eric Mead, Andi Gladwin, and Josh Jay for helping make it happen. Enjoy. 

That’s Randy Pitchford, our publisher, in a photo from early this year. He was standing outside of a film set in Budapest.

And here’s the story: The Now You See Me franchise, adventure movies about a group of cutting-edge magicians called The Horsemen, has just released the third film in the series, titled Now You See Me, Now You Don’t. This feature will introduce a new, young group of Horsemen who take over from the old guard. 

When the film’s producers approached Randy about consulting on the production, he made a surprising suggestion, proposing a group of magicians that could fulfill that role. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I was part of that team at the beginning of the project.) The full story of NYSM—the behind-the-camera, insider’s view—has been expertly chronicled in Toby Halbrook’s article, “Now You See It… Behind the Scenes.” 

Toby provided an honest look at how this all came together, how scenes were devised, tricks were suggested, cast members were trained, and then, finally, how the cameras and magic tricks were carefully choreographed into the final product.

It’s a great discussion of the ideals, the challenges, and the skilled team responsible for putting something like this together. When you see the film, you’ll recognize some inside information, carefully coded for magicians. As Randy explained, you might notice the password that opens a glass case, “Open Sesame,” as a nod to the Magic Castle’s famous sliding bookcase—which opens dozens of times every night to admit guest at the club. 

Don’t miss the new column by the award-winning duo, Mind2Mind, the performers James Harrington and Marina Liani. In Genii this month, they explain the steps to putting together their amazing act, their approach to modern mindreading, and what they’ve learned about the competition process. It’s an enlightening, honest look at magic; for people who are serious about assembling a professional act, we know that it will be informative. We look forward to seeing them in these pages. 

Randy Pitchford and Richard Kaufman recently attended the Tenyo Festival, the company’s celebration and release of their new products in Tokyo, and Richard provided a fantastic review of the event and a peek at the new products. You’ll find it as a special feature in our Marketplace section, and you’ll be delighted by Richard’s reviews of their products. It’s a great analysis of the company, their creativity, and their marketing. You’ll enjoy this deep dive.

Richard has also contributed this month’s Magicana column, and he explains that this will be his last one. When he stepped down as editor, just about a year ago, he generously volunteered to helm the Magicana column, Genii’s well-established flagship of magic innovation. It was a selfless offer, especially coming off his 25 years as editor of the magazine alongside his partner, Liz Kaufman. We can’t explain how helpful it’s been to have Richard supervise this column and assist with the production of the new Genii. But as he explains, he was focused on the transition. As readers know, he’s been busy with various projects (including the upcoming Greater Magic), and he was unable to commit long-term. Of course, we’re looking forward to having Richard around, available for special contributions and insights in his own style. And we’re grateful for all his contributions over this last year. Until the next time, we’d urge readers to sit tight and clear off a shelf for Greater Magic. When you see him again, it will be with a wheelbarrow full of wonderful magic.

It was Dustin Stinett, Genii’s talented, erstwhile associate editor who actually suggested the name Will Houstoun to Richard Kaufman years ago—recognizing that Will had done an amazing job with the Magic Circular and would be a great candidate to take over as Genii’s executive editor. And Dustin’s judgment was sound. After more than 12 years with the prestigious Magic Circular, the publication of The Magic Circle, Will will step in with the March 2026 issue. He’s an experienced editor, magician, writer, researcher, and historian. 

As I get ready to hand him the baton, I’d like to encourage readers to give us some input. Our mailbox page is pretty old-fashioned—I know that the idea of sending a message, even an email, seems quaint in this era of social media when everyone has numerous opportunities to say something about nothing. But our mailbox file has become a wonderful—and exclusive—way of communicating with our readers. We hear about all sorts of things, and not always the obvious things. Editors notice and responses are given. You see some of the results every month on our mailbox page. I’d just say that I’ve benefitted from this input, and your new editor will as well. Old fashioned, sure, but I can tell you that the emails sent to us have an outsized influence and get lots of our attention.

We’re hard at work on the January issue, and we look forward to seeing you then. We send our very best wishes for the holidays!