Https://www.cloudsandkingdomsbook.com

Been waiting for this book since he teased it earlier this year. Based on the website, the book teaches 4 of his effects, and 2 essays in it.

Effects
Dollar - Nate’s reconstruction of the Bill-to-Impossible-Location plot. Under test conditions a bill is borrowed, initialed, serial number memorized, and then burned to ashes only to reappear—not at the end of the routine in an impossible location as usual but rather at the beginning of the routine as a kind of impossible object that somehow exists before it should. Unbelievably, there are no switches and no pre-show. Dollar introduces a new utility move that allows this routine an unprecedented level of clarity and cleanliness and will invariably be used for countless other plots and routines in the years to come.

Phone Call - Nate’s version of the classic Wizard illusion and the closer to his stage act for two years. An onstage prank call turns into a miracle when the stranger on the other end of the line of a randomly selected phone number accidentally reveals a piece of secret information known only to the people in the theater at the show.

Constellation - A handful of matches randomly scattered on the ground somehow spells out the name of a spectator’s friend. Constellation is presented alongside an essay about the use of chance, observation, and opportunism in magic and mentalism to create a kind of Trick That Cannot Be Explained without playing cards.

Two Card Transposition - A card trick for 800 people. Two spectators stand on opposite sides of the stage. Each signs a playing card and holds it folded between their hands. Then, under test conditions— the audience will swear the magician never did anything—the cards switch places. Nate used this on The Today Show and The Next Great Magician and as a feature in his live shows for over a decade.

Essays
Lottery Revisited - In 2012 Nate released his signature lottery prediction in The Lottery Ticket, a one-time limited edition printing that sold out in two months. To be clear, Nate’s original work on the lottery prediction plot will never be released again, but in this essay he breaks down his thinking on the performance and structure of lottery prediction effects. As Nate writes in the introduction, “In the years since the book’s publication a handful of other systems and methods for my trick have come out from other magicians and I’d like to offer a few thoughts on the performance of lottery prediction effects in general. Think of these as platform-agnostic performance notes from someone who has spent a great deal of time thinking about how to present this kind of material to maximum effect.”

Conclusion: Clouds and Kingdoms - A brief essay on fiction, deception, and telling the truth with a magic trick.

I ordered yesterday... looking forward to this one!

Got my order in! Enjoyed the Lottery book immensely! He´s a great perfomer.

I purchased my order yesterday as well. I can't wait.

Just purchased this. Nate's previous material has had as much impact on me than anything. There are certain performers who when they offer something, its automatic to buy it (the list is very short). Nate is one of them.

My order is in, definitely a quality modern magician. I’m a sucker for limited releases material as well.

Anybody close enough to Nate to know whether or not (and the number of) these could be used close up/casual?

Ditto, I think the card transport can only be done in stage just by looking at the video performance

I got my copy today! I knew eventually living in Iowa would have its benefits!

Nathan

Got confirmation that mine shipped today.

Yeah, who knew? I was in Dorchester, Iowa my first time about 2 months ago. What a different world, woke up, stepped out the RV and I get ,” Wanna shoot my rifle?”.

Ha!

Nathan

I think there are philosophies that could be used... but also in regards to the effects Constellation specifically is a piece that is done close up.

Posting to Caleb Wiles who has the book, he says “I bought the book for "Dollar" but I think "Phone Call" is actually my favorite. I think both routines will find themselves into my shows at some point in the future“.

Constellation, the matchstick effect sounds amazing. Can anyone please describe how the effect looks during performance?

Just finished reading through the book, gonna try reading it again this weekend. All 4 effects are really good, and worth a a study. The utility moves/tools in Dollar are really great, and I can see using them for other effects using paper money. Also the Lotto essay is a interesting study on how to structure any routine (not just a lotto effect).

Everything about this book inspired me to want to work harder for my audiences. They deserve more and I feel like I should be trying harder to give them what the deserve. Nates words and ideas although they may seem simple on the surface are so powerful when you really dig in to understand them. There are 2 items in this book that I will immediately add to my performances and several other subtle ideas that changed the way I think about things.

I own a lot of books full of tricks but for me this book contained so much more than tricks. Don’t get me wrong the tricks he teaches to help you understand his thoughts are also great.

If you are interested in taking your audience to a deeper place I think you will enjoy the words Nate has put on these pages.

Brent Braun

I got the book last week and it is pure Staniforth. Years ago when I got the Lottery Illusion he changed my way of thinking. I even named my impossible thought of card effect "inspired by Staniforth". Wonderful book!

Has anyone had the chance to perform any of the routines from this book as yet, and if so, did they get the reaction expected.

Well a few have come up for sale already and not much chatter about the strength of the content. If anyone can give a further review it would be appreciated.

I received mine last week. It doesn't disappoint.

Nate's philosophy is to go all out to create that moment of amazement for your audience, even if it's going to take more effort than an easier method that achieves the same effect.

In doing so, the impact on your audience will be much greater - and he shows the lengths he would go to in his effects to achieve the bigger payoff.

His trick involving the dollar bill is already affecting how I'm thinking of doing my own dollar bill transposition effect I'm putting together. I was thinking of simply asking a spectator to read out the serial number to "prove" it's the same bill, or even have the camera zooming into the number to show the audience, but Nate's method is completely different that requires neither approaches (although you could add them in if you wish) and so much better in terms of impact. It requires a bit of work to do his method though - but the tradeoff is worth it and makes it even more impossible.