The incredible true story of the greatest illusionist of modern times and the man who altered the course of the second world war. Soon to be a major film starring Benedict Cumberbatch 'A richly entertaining read' SUNDAY TIMES Jasper Maskelyne was a world famous magician and illusionist in the 1930s. When war broke out, he volunteered his services to the British Army and was sent to Egypt when the desert war began. Here, he used his unique skills to save the vital port of Alexandria from German bombers and to 'hide' the Suez Canal from them. He invented all sorts of camouflage methods to make trucks look like tanks and vice versa. On Malta he developed 'the world's first portable holes': fake bomb craters used to fool the Germans into thinking they had hit their targets. His war culminated in the brilliant deception plan that helped win the Battle of El Alamein: the creation of an entire dummy army in the middle of the desert.

Based on an extraordinary true story and soon to be a major film produced by and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The War Magician is the remarkable tale of the man who used the powers of illusion to fight the Nazis—and created the most remarkable feat of legerdemain since the Trojan Horse. How an Illusionist Changed the Course of World War II When England went to war against Hitler in 1939, it mobilized its entire military and industrial resources. But there was no place in that vast army for legendary stage magician Jasper Maskelyne, whose family was renowned for creating modern theatrical illusions. Maskelyne was determined to fight the Nazis using his only weapon: he intended to apply the techniques of popular magic to the battlefield. Initially ignored and ridiculed by the staid military leadership, he eventually cajoled his way into the Camouflage Section and was sent to the western desert, where he created a new type of warfare. With his small group of artists, the Magic Gang, Maskelyne designed and developed ingenious weapons, then tricked the Desert Fox, General Rommel, and his fabled Afrika Korps into believing there were tanks and battleships where there were none, concealed the Suez Canal, and even successfully “moved” Alexandria harbor. But it required all his skills to pull off perhaps the largest and most complex magic trick in history. As General Bernard Montgomery told Maskelyne on the eve of the Battle of El Alamein, “The entire war will turn on what happens here. What I am about to ask you to do is impossible. It can’t be done, but it must be done. I hope you’ve brought your magic wand with you.” This is the fact-based story of the illusion that won the war in the desert.

The hidden world of Eastern European Jews during the 1940s turns into a world of wonders in a fantasy tale that transcends the Holocaust with magical optimism.

A charming glimpse of stage magic in the early twentieth century, this engaging manual's time-honored tricks range from sleight of hand with coins, cards, and rope to thought-reading and juggling. Written by a famous magician, its tried-and-true feats and performance tips are illustrated by sixty figures and thirteen vintage photographs. A British stage magician of the 1930s and '40s, Jasper Maskelyne was a third-generation performer in a well-known family of illusionists. During World War II, Maskelyne assembled a squad known as the “Magic Gang” to misdirect Axis bombers and camouflage the activities of the Allied forces with illusions of tanks, battleships, and armies. This new edition of his captivating classic features an introduction by magic historian and author Edwin A. Dawes that recounts Maskelyne's larger-than-life career and exploits.

The first novel in a new Cold War fantasy series, where the Berlin Wall is made entirely of magic. When a breach unexpectedly appears in the wall, spies from both sides swarm to the city as World War III threatens to spark. AFTER THE WAR, THE WALL BROUGHT AN UNEASY PEACE. When Soviet magicians conjured an arcane wall to blockade occupied Berlin, the world was outraged but let it stand for the sake of peace. Now, after ten years of fighting with spies instead of spells, the CIA has discovered the unthinkable... THE WALL IS FAILING. While refugees and soldiers mass along the border, operatives from East and West converge on the most dangerous city in the world to either stop the crisis, or take advantage of it. Karen, a young magician with the American Office of Magical Research and Deployment, is sent to investigate the breach in the Wall and determine if it can be fixed. Instead, she discovers that the truth is elusive in this divided city--and that even magic itself has its own agenda. THE TRUTH OF THE WALL IS ABOUT TO BE REVEALED.

He held the fate of two worlds in his hands... Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia.. Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world. There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name--Milamber. He learned to tame the unnimagined powers that lay withing him. And he took his place in an ancient struggle against an evil Enemy older than time itself.

The incredible true story of the greatest illusionist of modern times and the man who altered the course of the second world war. Soon to be a major film starring Benedict Cumberbatch 'A richly entertaining read' SUNDAY TIMES Jasper Maskelyne was a world famous magician and illusionist in the 1930s. When war broke out, he volunteered his services to the British Army and was sent to Egypt when the desert war began. Here, he used his unique skills to save the vital port of Alexandria from German bombers and to 'hide' the Suez Canal from them. He invented all sorts of camouflage methods to make trucks look like tanks and vice versa. On Malta he developed 'the world's first portable holes': fake bomb craters used to fool the Germans into thinking they had hit their targets. His war culminated in the brilliant deception plan that helped win the Battle of El Alamein: the creation of an entire dummy army in the middle of the desert.

When England entered WWII in 1939, legendary magician Jasper Maskelyne cajoled his way into the Camouflage Section and created a new type of warfare: applying the techniques of popular magic to the battlefield. This is the fact-based story of the illusion that won the war in the desert.