"Puncture" ebook by Ben Morris-Rains
Suggested Retail USD$6.00
Available from Out of The Hat Magic
In a Blink: 4 Out of 10

Puncture is an eBook from Ben Morris-Rains; a relative newcomer to magic publishing. The ebook details three "pen through bill" handlings and two card routines. It is 37 pages and available as a download for $6 from outofthehatmagic.com.

Truth be told, I hate doing reviews like this one. Here's this guy who seems to have a great attitude, who I certainly want to continue working that brain of his, but I'm reviewing the product, not the person, and unfortunately the product leaves a lot to be desired.

Let's start from the top. The title trick in the ebook, Puncture, is what is being advertised as the main draw. It claims to be a new impromptu method for penetrating a bill with a pen. It's a great looking penetration, but unfortunately it's nowhere near new. The trick has been around so long I've even seen it on DVDs for beginners, and the concept has spread around to other props, such as playing cards, as well. I have no doubt that Mr. Morris-Rains gets wonderful reactions from performing this trick, but reactions do not dictate whether something is publishable or not. If it's already out there, it's already out there.

The odd thing is that Mr. Morris-Rains does provide a credit for the trick and details how this predecessor is different, but surprisingly gets the details all wrong. In fact, the trick he credits and Puncture really have nothing in common methodologically or aesthetically, and it really makes me wonder if he's ever even read the trick he's giving credit to. It's as if someone erroneously told him the details of the older trick, and then instead of verifying it himself, he just rolled with it. So while I applaud his desire to give credit where it's due, he not only left out the correct information, but began spreading around bad information, which is SO not cool.

The trick itself also has a detrimental flaw (and always has): the work put into the bill cannot be taken out at the end. This means the method is left staring at the spectators, playing a game of I-Dare-You-Not-To-Find-Me. Granted, if the spectators do inspect the bill and notice the work (which is not difficult to imagine, given the effect), there is no guaranteeing that they will put two and two together to work out the method, but I certainly wouldn't put it past them either. To his credit, Mr. Morris-Rains recognized this setback and does provide a section to deal with it, it's just too bad that his solutions sound like nothing more than half-baked suggestions. If he had developed a true fix to the problem, it in itself would have been worthy enough of re-publishing the entire trick again (with proper credit, of course), but instead his best suggestions are to use your own bill for the penetration, or to swap the borrowed bill with a clean bill in your pocket. If you're having to use one of your own bills (by either starting with it, or switching a borrowed bill for it), then what's the point of the trick being impromptu? Why not just gaff the heck out of your own bill for a more convincing handling if you're going to be using it anyway?

Moving right along, the next item in the eBook is Holy Rip. It is essentially a gaffed method to perform Puncture. Again, it looks great but is not new. This basic method has been created by several people over the past couple of years, so at least Mr. Morris-Rains has some company in the re-creation department.

The final Pen Through Bill handling offered in the manuscript, is S.M.U.P.T.B. This is better than the previous two handlings; the penetration looks really nice and the bill is completely clean from start to finish. It sounds ridiculous to say an item is worth the price of the eBook when the entire thing only sets you back $6, but here I go, "S.M.U.P.T.B. is worth a double quarter-pounder meal. Supersized."

Two card routines are also offered, and are advertised as bonuses. It seems strange to call material that is already included in the eBook as "bonuses," but we're discussing Mr. Morris-Rains' magic, not his marketing.

The first is a card revelation titled, Scribble. This is very cool and I absolutely love the merging concept at its core. The downside? It's completely unworkable for the vast majority of performing situations. I won't tip what the spectator sees, since the revelation is really what he's offering here. But unless you don't mind walking around with ink all over your hands until you decide to bust out a trick, I doubt you'll be performing this one very often. Again, a cool idea that just seems half baked. Don't get me wrong, I love half baked ideas, but I like them better when the author is honest about it instead of passing it off as a complete routine.

Rounding off the Adobe Acrobat Reader is Thanks To Sankey. In Mr. Morris-Rains' own words, it is a variation of Jay Sankey's #*@! (a.k.a. Paperclipped) which was created because he's "too lazy to learn how to do a mercury card fold." If I may be so bold, that is an atrocious reason to vary a trick. First of all, the folded card dynamic is a strong feature of Sankey's original routine, not a nagging pest in need of extermination. Secondly, the Mercury Card Fold is not that difficult to begin with. I guarantee Mr. Morris-Rains could have easily gotten the move down in far less time than it took him to develop and publish his variation. All of that aside, how does the trick stack up? It doesn't. While it is apparent that Mr. Morris-Rains put in some effort to mask the method by way of an ancillary object, the handling is downright nonsensical. Without going into the details of the actual trick, as an example just imagine picking up a deck of cards, putting them back down, picking them up, and putting them down again all without anything apparently happening and you'll get an idea of how unnecessary so much of Thanks To Sankey looks to an audience. This is what happens when a handling is built solely around fitting a method. The directness and elegance of Sankey's original was sacrificed in the name of self-professed laziness.

So while there are definitely some good ideas in Puncture, they are few and far between and hidden between so much rehash and bad construction. I certainly would still like to see Mr. Morris-Rains continue to share his ideas, but I would urge him to wait a little longer before dropping them on us to ensure they are of a higher calibre and most of all, actually his.

"Puncture" ebook by Ben Morris-Rains
In a Blink: 4 Out of 10

Material: 3
There is some good in this eBook, but it's surrounded by bad and ugly, with unoriginal and unworkable coming along for the party. I would strongly suggest Mr. Morris-Rains learns some construction theory, picking up The Books of Wonder and Designing Miracles as a first step.

Quality: 5
The layout is simple to the point of amateurish, and there are a few spelling and grammatical errors. These aren't huge issues considering the eBook only runs $6, but they are noticeable nonetheless. And if you're looking for enhanced features embedded in the manuscript, such as hyperlinks in the table of contents, move along, there's nothing to see here.

Illustrations: 7
There are plenty of photos to make learning a snap. Be aware though, that they are homebrewed, meaning some are difficult to make out what's happening and what you're supposed to be seeing.

Presentation: 2
With very little exception, presentations are wholly absent.

Jon Thompson