A Bizarre Collective (Creative Magic and Storytelling)

In the spirit of MatCult's The Collective, I've volunteered to resurrect the collaborative creativity of the collective under the new name "A Bizarre Collective" (yes, that is a tip of the hat to Mat).

For those who are not familiar with "The Collective", it was a fun creative exercise where Mat would announce a theme for a given month, and entrants would email him a routine, an effect, a script, a poem, or a short story inspired by that theme in word doc or txt format. Those submissions were compiled into a pdf, and every entrant would receive a copy of the pdf for their enjoyment and inspiration. PM me to get the email address for submissions.

This month's theme will be announced tonight when the clocks along the mid-Atlantic coast strike twelve. At that time I will put our collective fates in the hands of the spirits and cast a die to determine which one of the following themes we will all travel together for November's challenge.

One, and only one, of the following will be this months theme:
-Will the Dead Ever Stop Crying? (tragedy)
-The Price of Sin (western religion)
-Voices from the Ouija Board (talking boards)
-Inside the Forbidden Box (magic boxes)
-A Picture is Worth a Thousand Screams (Photographs and/or spirit paintings)
-Adrift without a Soul (ghost ships, sailors, and ocean lore)
-Splintering Tales of the Bone Collector (bones - including casing bones, ruins, dice, etc)
-Furry of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 (historic)
-A Stopped Clock (time, clocks, watches)
-Cruel Compassion (Asylums)
-Wounded Hearts (historic: WW 1 Red Cross Nurses)
-Why I Fear the Dark (Seances in the dark, nocturnal dread, or black art magic)

Watch this page for the midnight announcement of this months theme and hope everyone joins in!

A Bizarre Collective - November Contest Announcement

Okay Spookies, you asked for it. The creative challenge for November is...
"Adrift without a Soul" (ghost ships, sailors tales, and ocean myths)

In the spirit of Mat's Collective projects, the broader goal here is straightforward and comes down to two simple concepts: participation and sharing. This is not a commercial project, just us magicians engaging in a fun bit of spooky creativity. Submissions can be in the form of a routine, an effect, a script, a poem, or a short story inspired by this months theme. At the end of the month, submissions will be compiled into a pdf and shared with all participants. So grab yourself a pencil and a cup of coffee and get started.

PM me for the email address to send your submissions to.
Deadline for submissions is midnight (GTM) November 30, 2023

P.S. Rumor has it Joshua will be offering a small prize to the author of the best submission as an added thank you (details to be worked out as this is all coming about rather spontaneously).

Great theme, was dreading the hurricane one as I was stuck on the image of the wicked witch's legs sticking out from Dorothy's house. But Ghost ships, ocean myths brilliant.

A set I originally envisioned for the secret society collective collection, but I think I was too busy to complete. I have resurrected the idea to use as a prize. The original collection entries were superb from some brilliant thinkers. One of the nice things was the variety of entries with people coming from different backgrounds in magic and mentalism as well as theatre and storytelling. I was fortunate to win one of the prizes from the original, so I thought it would be nice to contribute a prize to encourage a few entries.

"The society was barely a whisper, rumours mostly, an extraordinary group of people working together in the shadows. Nothing particularly united the membership beyond that they were all exceptional. Some were very clever, or devious, each had a special skill. They was even suggestion of psychics in the society. Tonight will see if you are fit to become a member."

I am offering a set of reproduction New York cabinet cabinet cards for you to perform Out Of This World (OOTW) as a test of applicants suitability to enter the secret society. Half the set are marked with the symbol of a certain secret society many of you will be familiar with, while half have the ordinary cabinet card back. The cards contain a variety of characters: circus, fortune tellers, musicians, priests, and more. The position of the secret society mark means you can spread them one way and not show the marks at the start of the performance, something I don't think many OOTW sets can't do. That it's necessary for most of the plots, but it's a nice little touch.

They are not intended for commercial release and I have no plans to make more. I'm not sure of the ownership of the original Sanctum idea, with he who shall not be named departing, but if someone does have ownership of the Sanctum "brand" they are welcome to run with the idea and bring some life into what was a lovely world building collection of props. Besides which, there is no shortage of OOTW sets on the market and I have no desire to step on other sellers toes. But I feel they are a suitable prize for the sort of creativity which came out of these collective efforts. Will post world wide when a winner is decided.





Mr Pickles is currently acting as a viscous watch cat of the cards. He will swipe anyone approaching his precious stack like a dragon guarding his treasure.

Joshua, that is a beautiful set,

Thanks Bob. I'm now looking for some inspiration for contributing something myself. It appears ghost ship movies aren't very inventive with names: ghost ship, death ship, ghost boat, haunted ship. Good couple free on Prime to watch though.

Hmmm, time to get a pen and paper

Anything nautical fits the bill.

We'll have to make The Wizard of Oz the next contest theme just for you.

Doing a little inspirational reading.

This sounds AMAZING!!!!!!!!

Slim, sent you a PM. Hope you join in on this. The interest has been great so far. This is all being done in the same fun creative spirit of Mat's "The Collective" that was ran back in 2014-2015. It's about creativity inspiring more creative.

Prof BC has graciously offered to help judge the competition along with Joshua. I'm very humbled and please with all the interest in this little endeavor, but in truth this is really all about you. All the members of this bizarre and wonderfully creative niche of magic.

Intrepid, I sent you a PM asking for your email.

You should have received a reply on the 4th. Apologies if that did not go through. I just sent a second PM to be sure.

Regards, Bob

This is one journey no one should miss.

A little horror at sea collection

https://youtu.be/oG9ZwPT00hM?feature=shared

So far we have 14 members of the bizarre community committed to participating in this ghostly bit fun and more sure to join before the submission cut-off date at end of the month.

If you haven't done so already and want to participate, just drop me a PM. November's theme is anything nautical (ghost ships, sailor tales, myths, etc.)

Time to get writing my routine and enjoy a little nautical themed drink while I work.