I recently stumbled upon the fact that an author friend of mine is also a Tarot card enthusiast, and she wrote a book that was just published called Applied Tarot: An Excessively Practical Guide to Tarot Card Interpretations. Her book is a very tongue-in-cheek reference guide to the meanings and symbols of each card and how to use them to figure out "specific answers to the most mundane, everyday questions," like: where did I lose my keys?

You can pick it up from Amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/Applied-Tarot-Excessively-Interpretations-Divination/dp/1735617016/

It's also available on BN.com.

I've invited the author (Emily Paper) to come check out our forum here; she's planning to develop a tarot deck, herself, so there could be some lively conversations coming soon!

Hi, all.

Although I am a professional computer geek by day, I have been known to occasionally write both fiction (sf, fantasy, historical fiction) and non-fiction (technical manuals, humor, news/feature articles) in my off hours. I come from a family of story tellers, and see everything as a narrative. How did I find this forum? How did I become interesting in playing cards? Well, those are stories with all kinds of twists and turns, but here's the short-ish version:

Back when I was a kid, when we rode dinosaurs to school and world wars were fought with sticks, it was an accepted practice that family and friends visiting from far off lands would bring little gifts to the kids in the house when they would come to visit. These gifts might include games or toys or souvenir playing cards. And then, when we would travel to far off lands, our parents would typically allow us kids to pick out a souvenir of our visit, and these might include stuffed animals or miniature license plates with our names on them... or souvenir playing cards.

Over time, I started to favor the playing cards as souvenirs, and word got out, so that's what tended to flow my way, and by the time I was in college (this was after the American War for Independence), I had amassed a huge collection of those cheap Hong Kong-printed souvenir playing cards with picture backs of travel destinations from all over the new world. So, you can imagine that when I went to study abroad in the Soviet Union (for real), I just had to find a deck of souvenir cards while I was there. Turns out... they didn't have those cheap Hong Kong-printed souvenir cards. But they did have these very interesting decks that you could pick up at the tobacconists, that featured interesting court designs and gold leaf printing. Mmm. Shiny. This opened up a whole new world to me in appreciating playing cards.

Years later, I figured I had such a large collection of cards, I may as well start learning how to do something with them other than just playing tournament euchre and seven card stud. So, I started visiting the magic shops in downtown Boston -- "The Magic Hat" and "Hank Lee's Magic Factory" -- and learned about svengali decks and mental photography and other gaffes and gimmicks. I've never become a magician, per se, but I've thoroughly enjoyed studying magic, and I have practiced a trick or two, now and then.

On one visit to Hank Lee's, the guy behind the counter had a Bicycle deck he was using to show me a move, and the deck was unlike any Bike I'd seen before. It was a Ghost deck. So. I discovered Ellusionist, and then Theory11, and then there was Magic Makers and so on. From there, I learned that some great new cards were coming out of Kickstarter, which led me to one particular designer who had posted on Facebook his involvement with United Cardists, and from UC, I learned about this site, and here we are.

As I said, I'm not a magician, but I study magic and am fascinated by it. I'm not a curdiest, but I'm trying to learn a few flourishes just for the hell of it, and I'm coming to appreciate the value of a good fan. I am a collector, and my current tastes run toward interesting interpretations of the courts (Royal Optik, Emperor, Americana), effective use of metallic inks (Artisans), good looking fans (Republic No. 2), and decks that make a good use of theme (Federal 52, The Amazing Deck). More than anything else, as a former paste-up artists and owner of a print shop, I am attracted to excellent design. Republic No. 2 isn't flashy, but it features a clean, compelling design aesthetic, while Uusi and Jackson Robinson totally get my design geek going.

That's the short-ish version of how I got here. You'll note that along the way, I've encountered my share of people, places, and products whose reputations are not exactly spotless, but I've learned and grown every step of the way. I enjoy good good conversation with good people about topics that interest me, and I've encountered a lot of great people both on UC and this forum. I'm looking forward to some great conversations!

Edit: I forgot to mention that along the way, I left the East Coast of the US and now live in the Seattle area.