(vincenzo ravina dot com)

[vincenzoravina]

Come see my weird virtual magic show! Tickets: SavourTheSea.com

In this unusual magic show, magician and writer Vincenzo Ravina takes you on a guided, interactive tour of his collection of weird magical artifacts. During the course of the tour, we'll bestow luck to the unlucky, test out a Coincidence Machine, and try to divine the future. It's weird and fun and tickets are Pay What You Can!

[vincenzoravina]

Here it is! My performance of MIND-READING GLASSES on Penn & Teller: Fool Us!

[vincenzoravina]

I’m going to be on Penn & Teller: Fool Us!

It has been so difficult to not talk about this for MONTHS and MONTHS, but I am now pleased to be able to tell you all:

I'M GOING TO BE ON SEASON SEVEN OF MY FAVOURITE MAGIC TV SHOW, PENN & TELLER: FOOL US!

I'm so proud and happy to be performing alongside so many of my heroes in magic! Here's a quick preview of season 7. I'm at 2:21!

[vincenzoravina]

New Short Story: The Fixy Fixy Man

Read The Fixy Fixy Man on my Patreon!

Read on Scribd for free with a free trial!

Buy on Apple Books, Kobo, etc.

Buy on Amazon Canada

Buy on Amazon USA

Wow, lots of places online to read this particular short story!

What’s the blurb? I’m glad you asked. Here is a blurb I just wrote:

Have you ever heard of the Fixy Fixy Man?

Good evening, stranger. Come on in, take your shoes off, let's sit down around the fire, and I will tell you about this short story I wrote:

It's called The Fixy Fixy Man and it's about Helen and Gregory Pencil, and the Fixy Fixy Man. There are some other characters too: There's the real estate agent, and Judith, and Eric.

But the Fixy Fixy Man is the titular character and he's quite a guy. He's sort of like the tooth fairy… except you pay him. See, the Fixy Fixy Man comes at night and he fixes broken things. You leave him a quarter for his trouble and he's really normal and cool. Everybody thinks so.

So anyway, if you want to know more about the Fixy Fixy Man and everything that happens to Helen and Gregory and the real estate agent and Judith and Eric, why not read this story? Give it a shot.

Nice to meet you. Goodbye!

[vincenzoravina]

New Short Story: Lobster Night

Buy in Canada

Buy in US

A pandemic, a woman, a lobster. Hello! Here is a tale as old as time: This short story is about a woman named Beth who is stuck at home because there's a pandemic on, and she gets the wrong box of groceries delivered to her apartment. What's in the box? A live lobster! But here's the twist, here's the spoiler, here's the thing you never see coming, stop reading right now and just start reading the story instead of this description of the story (it's a very short story! It's a fluffy 3,700-word romp, so why not just read it instead of reading this?), here's the thing about the whole lobster situation that Beth isn't expecting: THE LOBSTER CAN TALK. Hot damn! That's a spicy development! You find out that the lobster talks about a 1000 words in, so there's plenty of story after that, don't worry.

Buy in Canada

Buy in US

[vincenzoravina]

Magic Ethics and Me

In 2002, when I was 14 years old, all I knew of magic were books for beginners that were sold in regular bookstores. I had never been to a magic shop and I didn't own any books written for magicians. Magic was new to me, and I made some stupid and fundamental mistakes.

I noticed that a lot of the tricks in the books for beginners were repeats. The same cut-and-restored rope, the same pick-a-card tricks... and I made the incorrect assumption that all these magic tricks were essentially in the public domain.

At that time, I was hanging out on a now-defunct website called Ultimate Magic, a forum where the users had a lax approach to magic ethics and trick theft was rampant. People would post the secrets to magic effects that did not belong to them. This seemed normal to me, and jibed with what I thought I understood of magic.

I started posting tricks on the site. Usually I would see a marketed effect and I would try to come up with a new method for doing the same trick. Sometimes I posted old methods from those beginner magic books with different plots. Sometimes I posted tricks directly from the magic books I loved, the ones by Penn and Teller, and Mac King. People on the website liked the tricks I was posting and one commenter suggested I write a book, so I decided to do just that.

I made an account on The Magic Cafe and one of my first posts was to announce that I had ideas for magic booklets and to ask if there was any interest in them. Almost immediately, I got a message from a purchaser at a large magic company. They were interested in the booklets I had described, of "shocking" gross-out magic, and they put in an order. I was extremely excited by the prospect. I had always wanted to be a writer. When I was in elementary school, I used to come home on my lunch breaks and call all the publishers in the phone book, pitching them my stories. I thought this order was my big break.

I compiled the tricks I had posted to Ultimate Magic and padded the booklet out with what I thought were public domain tricks from the magic books I was reading (like Mac King's goldfish eating and fork-in-the-eye effects from Tricks with your Head). I drew some terrible illustrations for the booklets in Paint.

I wrote another booklet based on David Blaine's coffee-to-coins effect and Criss Angel's coffee-to-bugs effect. I assumed that if two different magicians did a similar trick, I could come up with a new method for the plot.

In 2003, my booklets were reviewed by a knowledgeable magician named Brad Henderson. His reviews were absolutely crushing but wholly accurate. Henderson wrote, "There are times when I believe that the stuff marketed to magicians has truly hit rock bottom. But after reading Vincenzo Ravina's Shocking I am convinced we are still fully plummeting headlong into the abyss." He went on to detail all the tricks I had taken from other magicians' books, all the old tricks I had taken from beginners' magic books, and all the terrible alterations I had made. "What we have is pure plagiarism. This is wrong and should not be tolerated."

When he reviewed the coffee-to-coins/bugs booklet, he wrote, "The coffee to coins plot was devised by Bob Fitch for use by David Blaine. Bob has kept his method confidential. The idea is original with Bob and Mr. Ravina did not obtain permission to replicate his effect... One good thing which has come from being allowed to review Ravina's products. I have a new adjective. Now, when I see something that is really lousy I can tell my friends, 'That trick is bad. Not Ravina bad, but I still wouldn't touch it." Or, 'Did you see that performance? Yep, that wasn't just bad, that was Ravina bad.'"

Henderson's reviews laid out for me what I had done wrong. It hadn't occurred to me that the methods and plots of magic tricks were proprietary. I thought they were like recipes or instructions for assembling furniture.  

My understanding of magic ethics began with Brad Henderson's reviews, and deepened as I read more widely in magic, joined a magic club, and met other magicians in real life for the first time. In the years since, I've worked hard to be a better, more ethical magician. I know now that what I did was wrong, that I was stealing the ideas of other magicians.

But I never apologized for it.

So I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Mac King, Penn & Teller, Bob Fitch, Brad Henderson, and anyone else I harmed with my past work. I am sorry that I used the work of others and passed it off as my own. I apologize to the magic community for showing the art so little respect. I feel terrible that I hurt the art when I was younger and I am striving to never do that again.

[vincenzoravina]

Mind-Reading Glasses

This is a piece I performed at my magic club's most recent show on August 22nd, 2019 at the Bus Stop Theatre.

[vincenzoravina]

Grave Decisions - Maisonneuve Magazine

I wrote an article for the Winter 2018 issue of Maisonneuve Magazine about low-cost funerals, which you can read here.

The story of how this article came to be is: a little over a year ago, Selena Ross at Maisonneuve sent me an email asking if I had any ideas I’d like to pitch them. At that point, I hadn’t done any journalism for three years or more; I’d been teaching English and writing fiction instead. But I was always looking for a chance to dip a toe back into journalism, so I sent back some ideas.

The one Selena liked was the one about the funeral industry. I’ve been fascinated by the funeral industry and the people who work in it for a long time. One of my favourite things I worked on in journalism school was a profile of a funeral director. I enjoy talking to funeral people and learning about why and how they do what they do.

I worked on this article off and on for about a year and it went through somewhere around seven drafts (probably more). I very much appreciate the people who were kind enough to speak to me about some of the most painful times in their lives for the article. Because of the length of the piece and its focus, much of Rob Mark’s story and Evangelina Coleman’s story didn’t make the published article. They were both very kind and accommodating to speak to me about their experiences.

Eric Vandermeersch, Michelle Clarke, and Ian MacDonald were all lovely to talk to. They all had a real passion for helping bereaved people. They each said some version of the sentiment that no one gets into the funeral industry to make money, and that certainly seems true the people in the funeral industry I’ve personally spoken to.

It was such a pleasure to work with Selena and everyone else at Maisonneuve who helped make the article better (including Jimmy Thomson and Paula Dayan). They edited and fact-checked the hell out of the story.

Finally, the illustrations that accompany my article are incredible! The talented Graham Roumieu did them and I was delighted by them.

[vincenzoravina]

Magic show at the Bus Stop Theatre. November 29th, 2018. Photos by Greg Gidney.

[vincenzoravina]

I was an extra on The Mist. Here’s what happened!

[vincenzoravina]

I performed at my magic club’s showcase last week. Here’s the video! We’ll be having another show in the summer.

[vincenzoravina]

Night Auditor is available now at Amazon!

Night Auditor (Ellie Flynn #2)

United States: Amazon.com

Canada: Amazon.ca

Ellie Flynn is a magnet for bad luck, she has a criminal record, and she can't hold down a proper job. The best she can do is stump from contract to contract at Vector Temp Agency. Tonight, her job is to stay awake all night behind the lobby desk of the Hotel Admiral. She soon discovers that things are not what they seem when hotel guests start complaining about strange, ghostly noises. The internet says the Hotel Admiral is haunted. But ghosts aren't real, right? This 11,000-word story is the second in the Ellie Flynn series. Each story finds Ellie working in a new job, finding new trouble, and solving new mysteries. The stories can be read in any order and all stand alone.

United Kingdom: UK

Germany: DE

France: FR

Spain: ES

Italy: IT

Netherlands: NL

Japan: JP

Brazil: BR

Mexico: MX

Australia: AU

India: IN

[vincenzoravina]

The Death of the Party (Ellie Flynn # 1)

United States: Amazon.com

Canada: Amazon.ca

United Kingdom: Amazon.co.uk

Australia: Amazon.com.au

More countries here.

Ellie Flynn is no detective. She's never solved so much as a Sudoku. She's a magnet for bad luck, she has a criminal record, and she can't hold down a proper job. The best she can do is stump from contract to contract at Vector Temp Agency.

She's already on thin ice when she starts work as the temporary secretary at an internet startup, but when Ellie stumbles upon a corpse during an office party and literally gets blood on her hands, she realizes the true depths of her bad luck. She's forced to turn amateur sleuth to avoid being blamed for the murder herself.

This 10,000-word story is the first in the Ellie Flynn series. Each story finds Ellie working in a new job, finding new trouble, and solving new mysteries. The stories can be read in any order and all stand alone. A sneak peek at Night Auditor (Ellie Flynn # 2) is included with this story.

United States: Amazon.com

Canada: Amazon.ca

United Kingdom: Amazon.co.uk

Australia: Amazon.com.au

More countries here.

[vincenzoravina]

Hello friends!

I wrote a mystery story called The Death of the Party about a down-on-her-luck woman named Ellie Flynn. She works as a temp at various offices and businesses and she's forced into amateur sleuthing when she discovers a corpse during an office party.

On November 3rd, 2016, you'll be able to buy this story for a mere 99 cents on Amazon.com! You would have my undying gratitude if you bought my story on that day! A strong launch would really help me out with Amazon's evil algorithms.

(If you'd like the story in a non-Amazon format, just let me know when you've purchased on Amazon and I'll send you the story in .pdf or .epub or any other format you like!*) (*not audiobook, don't be crazy.)

I appreciate you supporting my dreams!

Some other ways you can support my dreams include:

Joining my mailing list! My emails will be SO INFREQUENT. I PROMISE.

“Liking” my “page” on Facebook!

RSVPing to my “book” “launch” “event”!

Your close, personal friend,

Vincenzo Ravina

[vincenzoravina]

My shoes after working on the Mist as a background actor.

[vincenzoravina]

at Johnstown, Cape Breton

[vincenzoravina]

at Johnstown, Cape Breton