WK: Anything else that you would like to mention?
EM: After a revelatory conversation I once had with Penn Jillette, I try never to read anything people write about me. Not articles or profiles, not reviews of my work, nothing. I'm not as steely willed as Penn in this regard, so I do occasionally fall prey to seeing what "they" are saying, and Tangled Web has gotten very good reviews from what little I've seen.
The one complaint I have heard is from those who wished it was a bigger book. I don't think they mean physically, because Stephen Minch did a beautiful job making a "gem of a book" in a gorgeous small format. No, the complaint I have heard is that some wish there were more tricks, more essays, and just more of everything. Which, if you think about it, "wanting more" is not really a criticism.
This is not the "Complete Works of Eric Mead" or even close to it. It's a tidy little volume of ideas and essays that I really hope will be a good read, help put a new trick or two into someone's repertoire, and plant the idea that mediocrity is not a worthy goal.
I am constantly striving for originality in presentation and point of view, for the strongest methods and effects I can find or create, and straining for absolute excellence in the performance of artistic magic. Although it's never overtly said in such naked terms, inspiring the same in others is ultimately what I hope the book is about.
