We hope this month finds you basking on some southern beach, enjoying spring break, or at least having a good time at one of the year's early magic conventions. First up, some great beach reading:

MYSTERY -- Few writers today can create a world of deception and secrets as well as John Le Carre. In Le Carre's new thriller, Single & Single, the younger Single goes to ground as a children's magician after ratting on his con artist dad, only to have to emerge from such total obscurity to rescue the old boy from Russian thugs. In one tense scene, when Single is frisked, the baddies find in his pockets "a cutting, still unread, from a weekly magazine called Abracadabra, offering 'tricks new and slanted.'"

COMEDY -- Mac King appeared here in Bloomington, IN, on March 8, to the delight of patrons of an Indiana University campus comedy club. This is one of the great comedy acts of the century (note to Stan Allen), that you can watch repeatedly and laugh as hard at every time, as you can at Ballantine, etc. And be so badly fooled. New to me were Mac's "Cloak of Invisibility" and some great encore shtick. (A few days earlier, Mac appeared in some little town in Nevada, where his lecture was the unanimous bright spot of the first WMS.)

DRAMA -- "From a backyard circus in the slums of New York, the spectacle of Coney Island carnivals, vaudeville stages worldwide, to a royal command performance in London, England, one young boy takes a magical journey through the mind of the world's most celebrated magician." This from the ads for The Great Houdini, the new Stacy Tanner play to run April 22-May 30 at The Stella Adler Theater in Los Angeles, a short walk from the Magic Castle. The play stars Jim Bentley as Houdini. Check our Fav Links for details.

CULTURE -- The March issue of Genii is in hand, a special British issue. This is Richard's first theme issue since taking the helm, and it's wonderful, with great contributions by Alex Elmsley, Bob Read, Patrick Page, Jack Avis, Peter Kane, Guy Hollingworth, Edwin Dawes, and many others. Any magazine that contains the phrase "your toes go into this squelchy shit" can't be all bad. There's never been a better time to subscribe. Check the Fav Links page for details, or phone Genii at (202) 363-4544.