June is waning and the family and I plan to make the best of what's left with a tour of the Florida Keys and other points south. A few brief June highlights:

SUMMER READING -- Lots of great new stuff coming out in books and videos, in time for the big summer conventions. Not much of this is in my hands yet, but two fine items I plan to take to the beach next week include Brain Food, a new book by David Parr from Hermetic Press ($25 pp), and Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy, by Jay Sankey. I (and others) have long recommended Judy Carter's Stand-up Comedy, the Book for excellent advice on performing. Sankey's book is equally valuable, and readers will find his comments on magic and comedy most interesting. $17.99 at your local bookstore.

HOCKMAN REVEALED -- Fans of Milt Larsen's Harry Hockman cartoons will be pleased to note that Milt plans to release a new book soon, Professor Harry Hockman Exposes Himself, illustrated by the inimitable Paul Butler.

LITTLE EGYPT MAGIC -- For those who miss some of the card material we posted in the first year of The Little Egypt Gazette, I've begun a new project called The Little Egypt Book of Numbers, a work in progress featuring strong card material whose titles all involve numbers. This appears on Joe Stevens' Gemini network, updated weekly by Amy Stevens and Pat Hennessy. Yes, ya gotta shell out $20 annually to join, but Joe gives that back (really) in deals. This weekly "magazine" and chat area features great stuff by Simon Lovell and Mike Rogers and Jon Racherbaumer and Aldo Colombini and Paul Cummins and many others.