ABOUT THE AUTHOR
by David Groves

Early on, Diamond Jim’s magic skills were prodigious. By the age of two, he knew every card in the deck, and by age six, he had pored through the daunting volume, Magic with Cards, by Garcia & Schindler. By age 16, Diamond Jim was performing close-up and stand-up magic professionally. That same year, he became a demonstrator for a local magic shop in Dallas, dazzling and absorbing for eight years. At age 22, his career heated up; he added fire-eating to his repertoire. Diamond Jim’s ascent in the magic world has been as a meteor from the heavens. In September of 1999 he earned the prestigious Best Close-Up Performer trophy at the Texas Association of Magicians (TAOM) Convention in Austin, Texas. He has performed on television, at hotels, and in restaurants. He has appeared at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California. And in the corporate world, he has performed at trade shows and other events for such top clients as AT&T, IBM, Mobil, Pepsi, and Time Warner.

The arrival of Diamond Jim’s first book has taken on the aura of An Event. Pockets Full of Miracles: Secrets from the Repertoire of a Professional Close-up Magician is packed full of Jim’s favorite routines and best kept secrets. Diamond Jim is perhaps best known as the inventor of the Diamond Deck, the greatest advance in trick decks in many years, which is sold in magic shops worldwide. His follow-up trick deck, the Millennium Pack, takes everything two big steps further, inciting rave reviews from his peers. Several of Diamond Jim’s routines have been featured in Genii, Magic and Linking Ring magazines.

Currently, Diamond Jim is at the top of the entertainer heap in Dallas, Texas. In addition, he performs at three restaurants in the Dallas metroplex: Tenaya's (in Plano), Slider & Blues (in Plano), and  Pappadeaux’s (in Dallas). If you’re on the Web, Diamond Jim’s heavily trafficked Web site sits in the middle of everything magic. His domain www.diamond-jim.com has been prominently featured in Internet books and directories. If you visit the site, you certainly won’t be bored: The site features games, prizes, interactive magic and even excerpts from Jim’s new book.

On a personal note, Diamond Jim’s greatest accomplishment has been his recent triumph over cancer (Hodgkin’s Disease), of which he has officially been declared cured. That news is the magic community’s triumph as well, paving the way for ever-greater contributions to the art that Diamond Jim loves so dearly-  sleight-of-hand magic.