Elephants in the Distance

Paul Galliard is a magician by training and heredity: his father died performing the Bullet Catch, an infamous trick that over the centuries has claimed the lives of more than a dozen magicians. A pragmatist, Paul confines his conjuring to commercials; he shows up often on TV screens, demonstrating the “magical” power of some brand of household cleanser. Then he gets a call. A producer wants to do a show highlighting his father’s old cronies, those grizzled vets of the glory days of TV magic acts. Their top-hats are moth-eaten, their rabbits have arthritis, but they’re desperate for one last shot at the limelight. Paul would like to give it to them—these fellows all but raised him. But there’s a catch—a Bullet Catch, to be precise. Either Paul does the trick that killed his father, or the show doesn’t go on.

Daniel Stashower, who has won awards for his non-fiction writing, is an amateur magician himself.