Christopher Priest
Author profile
born
in Cheadle, England, The United Kingdom
July 14, 1943
gender
male
website
genre
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The Prestige
— published 1995 — 44 editions |
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The Inverted World
— published 1974 — 24 editions |
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The Affirmation
— published 1981 — 14 editions |
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The Glamour
— published 1984 — 12 editions |
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The Separation
— published 2002 — 13 editions |
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The Islanders
— published 2011 — 5 editions |
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The Extremes
— published 1998 — 11 editions |
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A Dream of Wessex
— published 1977 — 9 editions |
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The Space Machine
— published 1976 — 13 editions |
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The Dream Archipelago
— published 1999 — 4 editions |
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“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".”
― Christopher Priest, The Prestige
― Christopher Priest, The Prestige
“Magicians protect their secrets not because the secrets are large and important, but because they are so small and trivial. The wonderful effects created on stage are often the result of a secret so absurd that the magician would be embarrassed to admit that that was how it was done.”
― Christopher Priest
― Christopher Priest
“An illusion has three stages.
"First there is the setup, in which the nature of what might be attempted at is hinted at, or suggested, or explained. The apparatus is seen. volunteers from the audience sometimes participate in preparation. As the trick is being setup, the magician will make use of every possible use of misdirection.
"The performance is where the magician's lifetime of practice, and his innate skill as a performer, cojoin to produce the magical display.
"The third stage is sometimes called the effect, or the prestige, and this is the product of magic. If a rabbit is pulled from a hat, the rabbit, which apparently did not exist before the trick was performed, can be said to be the prestige of that trick.”
― Christopher Priest, The Prestige
"First there is the setup, in which the nature of what might be attempted at is hinted at, or suggested, or explained. The apparatus is seen. volunteers from the audience sometimes participate in preparation. As the trick is being setup, the magician will make use of every possible use of misdirection.
"The performance is where the magician's lifetime of practice, and his innate skill as a performer, cojoin to produce the magical display.
"The third stage is sometimes called the effect, or the prestige, and this is the product of magic. If a rabbit is pulled from a hat, the rabbit, which apparently did not exist before the trick was performed, can be said to be the prestige of that trick.”
― Christopher Priest, The Prestige
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Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Reality: Nominations for September! | 20 | 111 | Jun 20, 2009 09:29am | |
| SciFi and Fantasy...: November Sci Fi Theme Book Nominations | 124 | 217 | Nov 03, 2009 11:30pm | |
| The Book Challenge: Mel's 2009 Book Challenge | 70 | 157 | Dec 24, 2009 05:20am | |
| SciFi and Fantasy...: What are you reading in April 2010? | 81 | 211 | Apr 28, 2010 08:56am |
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