Card Tricks Paperback – October 21, 2012

Card Tricks by Jon Messenger is a novella about Joey Scaglione, a Super with the power to bring cards to life that has no intention of capitalizing on his powers for more than personal gain.In a world where people with superpowers have become commonplace, Joey tries his best to stay out of the limelight. He uses his powers to rig poker games, to extort money from ATM machines, and for protection in fights. He has no desire to put on a costume and fight crime, as he sees the idea of superheroes being a nuisance on the city rather than a blessing. With supermen around the police and government are lax, not even trying anymore as they know a Super will just come and save the day. It's lazy, and Joey despises it.His policy of staying out of trouble is pushed aside as his girlfriend is taken hostage by a well-known super villain, The Puppet Master. Joey reluctantly puts on the hero mantle and goes to rescue his girlfriend, questioning the whole way why he must be the one to do this.I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It's reminiscent of X-Men and the BBC show Misfits. I loved the slew of references to card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering; games I used to play when I was younger. There was an element of comedy too that had me laughing wildly, Author Jon Messenger putting together the ultimate "geek package" as I like to say. This is a story that deserves more attention than what it gets, and I seriously recommend everyone who ever bought a starter pack of cards to pick this up!

I liked this story quite a bit with the reluctant hero "under protest" saving day from a old friend. The power he holds over manipulating reality through diffrent types of game cards from the pokemon to even the reverse card of uno is interesting, it is a nice change of pace from the glearing obvious powers like strenght and energy powers. Im particularly fascinated by his views of how the concept of heros accepted by the general populace have on normal people reaction to crime and their exsistance to allow super villians to born as a result.

There isn't a lot to the story, just a person with power who doesn't want to be a hero or a villain, but forced to fight. And there, he plays for keeps.

Messenger takes a stab at the superpowered genre... and lands a bullseye. This short story is fast-paced, with great development, fun characters and interesting takes on some genre standbys. The darkness and grim humor that is Messenger's trademark is apparent here. Another quick page-turner that is well worth reading. Keep an eye on this author, he is writing some excellent material.

This is the third work by Jon Messenger that I have read (Brink of Distinction series, Canyon Bound previously), and I must say this is my favorite.I have always liked stories with a reluctant hero, and with this one having such an unusual ability it made this story even more enjoyable.Looking forward to Jon's next book!

This book was really awesome. Excellent creativity. Nice imagery. Very interesting plot for a super hero. Kind of sad ending

A wonderfully unique short story. I bought this ebook and loved it so much I got a print copy for my gamer husband and step-sons. They loved it as well.

I met the author and picked up this book at Denver Comic Con 2017. Love the story idea and execution. Even though I saw the ending coming it was not at all disappointing and I was surprised by the actual conclusion. If you're looking for a short story to read and enjoy card magic and fantasy magic or super heroes then you will enjoy this story.