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The Guile
When an AI that monitors casino gambling in Reno taunts a magician by revealing all his tricks, the magician is determined to exact his revenge... in Ian McDonald's Tor.com Original short story The Guile.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
28 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 23, 2018
1 person is currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Ian McDonald
264 books1,263 followersIan Neil McDonald was born in 1960 in Manchester, England, to an Irish mother and a Scottish father. He moved with his family to Northern Ireland in 1965. He used to live in a house built in the back garden of C. S. Lewis's childhood home but has since moved to central Belfast, where he now lives, exploring interests like cats, contemplative religion, bonsai, bicycles, and comic-book collecting. He debuted in 1982 with the short story "The Island of the Dead" in the short-lived British magazine Extro. His first novel, Desolation Road, was published in 1988. Other works include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House (both of which won British Science Fiction Association Awards), the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. His most recent publications are Planesrunner and Be My Enemy, books one and two of the Everness series for younger readers (though older readers will find them a ball of fun, as well). Ian worked in television development for sixteen years, but is glad to be back to writing full-time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
August 14, 2019
“If it were me, I’d show that uppity machine what for.”
this story is simply too much fun. it's a sci-fi artificial intelligence tale that borrows bits from the con/heist genre, and it's also got magic and a healthy "take that, machines!" stance that i applaud.
it's funny and surprising and i'm not gonna tell you how it was done, because - as this story'll teach you - a little knowledge takes all the fun out of the world.
just a tiny review for a tiny story, but that gives you more time to go read it over at tor.com.
read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
come to my blog!
June 14, 2018
Ian McDonald’s “The Guile” is a near-future SF take on the stage illusion story. The SFnal part of the premise, AIs replacing humans in casino surveillance, is a genuine inevitability. Legalized gambling I already an anarcho-capitalist's wet dream – you literally just tell everyone up front that you’re going to rob them blind and they happily play along. If they can build a machine to guarantee all the cheats and card sharps get weeded out, they’ll do it. At the Silverado Hotel and Casino, Maltese Jack Caruana is the house magician, but when the newly installed surveillance AI “Remi” starts calling out Jack’s tricks, he knows it’s time to hang up the cape. You can fool a person with sleight of hand, but the machine can see everything you’re up to; the usual psychological tricks don’t work on it. However, the story’s narrator has a plan for Jack’s “final show” that could turn the tables on the casually arrogant Remi. McDonald doesn’t even try to hide that the end twist will be a bluff or double blind or some such – this kind of story always goes there, and in this case, it’s literally written into the title. When the big turn comes, though, it’s impossible to swallow. It completely undermines the entire premise the story is built on. I liked McDonald’s characters (especially the cagey narrator) and the story’s points about the division of labor and unfair distribution of wealth are gladly taken, but “The Guile” doesn’t quite pull off the feint.
April 13, 2022
A revenge heist to take down an AI is what this story is about. It was an interesting concept and very realistic for that matter and I really wanted to love this but I couldn't.
An AI studies a casino magician's tricks and pulls them apart. The magician wants to exact a revenge by doing a trick that the AI won't be able to guess but there's a twist which I wasn't impressed with because I had already guessed it.
2 stars
An AI studies a casino magician's tricks and pulls them apart. The magician wants to exact a revenge by doing a trick that the AI won't be able to guess but there's a twist which I wasn't impressed with because I had already guessed it.
2 stars
June 7, 2018
Sigh. I don’t get the story within a story twist ending. I think I think too hard at work, so I can’t think when I read. That or as I age I get dumber. I would SO have gotten that as a kid. 3, I need to try harder, stars.
June 29, 2018
Best trick I ever saw? A lanky streak-of-piss Dutchman did it right in front of my eyes. A ring, a watch, a wallet. Some covering patter about a thief, but the effect is: He puts the ring, the watch, and the wallet in an envelope and seals it. Patter patter, he tears up the envelope and presto chango, it’s empty! The ring, the watch, and wallet are back on his finger, his wrist, in his inside pocket. Simple, quick, clean: done three feet in front of me and I have no idea how he did it.
Well, I do. Sleight of hand. Misdirection. That’s how they’re all done. But the trick of it —the guile: I have no idea.
Best for you to discover for yourself :) Loved this one
Read the story here: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
Well, I do. Sleight of hand. Misdirection. That’s how they’re all done. But the trick of it —the guile: I have no idea.
Best for you to discover for yourself :) Loved this one
Read the story here: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
April 19, 2020
This is soooo entertaining! Remember when Gary Kasparov got beaten by Deep Blue? Or when Alpha Go destroyed Ke Jie? We love those human vs. AI stuff. In this story, it was about a Las Vegas magician vs. an AI who seemed to know everything about magic tricks. It was so much fun to read. One of those short stories that put a smile on my face.
June 10, 2023
The whole gambling and glitz, Vegas casino thing has never appealed to me. I did absolutely love magic and magicians as a child, but there was never enough of it available to me to turn into anything like a persistent interest. There was a while where I would indiscriminately snatch up "heist" stories, just seeing "thief" in any description would trigger the gimme gimme response, which inevitably led to disappointment until I finally clued into the difference between "thief" and "heist" stories. (Solitary individual vs group.)
This made it onto my tbr not through any particular awareness of the nature of the story, simply because it was Ian McDonald, an SF author I've long appreciated, even if I've neglected too much of his work. (Need to fix that. Why is Hopeland $16? That's way too much.)
Honestly, with ChatGPT and whatnot, this barely feels like science fiction. The AI here is definitely far beyond the so-called AI that's in the news lately, and yet the consequences of its existence this story reveals feel much closer to what's actually going on now than to the doomsday scenarios tech "leaders" are trotting out. (I'm sure the distraction from the actual harms they're doing is purely unintentional. ;)
In any case, this is superb. Read it.
This made it onto my tbr not through any particular awareness of the nature of the story, simply because it was Ian McDonald, an SF author I've long appreciated, even if I've neglected too much of his work. (Need to fix that. Why is Hopeland $16? That's way too much.)
Honestly, with ChatGPT and whatnot, this barely feels like science fiction. The AI here is definitely far beyond the so-called AI that's in the news lately, and yet the consequences of its existence this story reveals feel much closer to what's actually going on now than to the doomsday scenarios tech "leaders" are trotting out. (I'm sure the distraction from the actual harms they're doing is purely unintentional. ;)
In any case, this is superb. Read it.
October 16, 2020
So when AI takes most of the jobs what happens to magic? A clever little story showing how humans think and maybe can still beat the machine mind.
October 8, 2024
A free short story from TOR.com.
Set only a short time in our future, where AI starts to replace human jobs, a stage magician in a Reno casino is tormented by the casino's AI security robot. Can the magician's sleight of hand eventually outwit the AI?
Couple of quotes:
“In my theory,” Jack said without losing a beat—he knows how to work an audience—“every effect has two elements, the guile and the panache. The panache is all the showmanship, the patter, the props, the dressing. The panache is how you sell the effect. But the trick, the magic: That’s the guile. The panache is there to hide the guile. People see the panache and miss the guile.
-
There are only ten magic effects. Vanish, produce, transform, restore. Transpose, transport, escape. Levitation, penetration, prediction. Everything else is panache.
3 stars -quick fun.
Set only a short time in our future, where AI starts to replace human jobs, a stage magician in a Reno casino is tormented by the casino's AI security robot. Can the magician's sleight of hand eventually outwit the AI?
Couple of quotes:
“In my theory,” Jack said without losing a beat—he knows how to work an audience—“every effect has two elements, the guile and the panache. The panache is all the showmanship, the patter, the props, the dressing. The panache is how you sell the effect. But the trick, the magic: That’s the guile. The panache is there to hide the guile. People see the panache and miss the guile.
-
There are only ten magic effects. Vanish, produce, transform, restore. Transpose, transport, escape. Levitation, penetration, prediction. Everything else is panache.
3 stars -quick fun.
January 17, 2019
“We want wonder in the world; things we can’t explain. We want to be fooled, even though we know there’s no such thing as magic.”
Refreshing short story about who we really are. Lots of magic terminology. Spoiled only slightly by too much explaining at the end. As he says, we don’t want to know how the trick was done; sometimes we’d rather not know there was a trick.
“Make the audience walk as far as possible from the trick to the effect.”
Refreshing short story about who we really are. Lots of magic terminology. Spoiled only slightly by too much explaining at the end. As he says, we don’t want to know how the trick was done; sometimes we’d rather not know there was a trick.
“Make the audience walk as far as possible from the trick to the effect.”
Read
June 21, 2018Can magic tricks - or as the pros more aptly call them, effects - get one over on a robot? From what I've seen, yes they can. Here...well, that would be telling. But the story's own effect is all in the narrative voice. This is not something I ever recall thinking before, but more than anything the conspiratorial feel makes me think McDonald would be an excellent fit for Wild Cards.
May 31, 2018
Read Here
Opening: Best trick I ever saw? A lanky streak-of-piss Dutchman did it right in front of my eyes. A ring, a watch, a wallet. Some covering patter about a thief, but the effect is: He puts the ring, the watch, and the wallet in an envelope and seals it. Patter patter, he tears up the envelope and presto chango, it’s empty! The ring, the watch, and wallet are back on his finger, his wrist, in his inside pocket. Simple, quick, clean: done three feet in front of me and I have no idea how he did it.
Want to read
May 25, 2018
May 19, 2019
This one was great, a nice mixture of speculative fiction, that is also incredibly contemporary feeling and also feels like something that could happen.
Great twist, great commentary on inequality as well.
Great twist, great commentary on inequality as well.
November 6, 2020
If you like stories with surprise endings, here you go. There is a story within the story which makes it more intriguing. As we grow older most of us still need to work. Unfortunately, many jobs have been replaced by computers. Can an aging magician stop a AI from taking his job away?
September 16, 2019
How a micro-magician fools an AI. Worth reading.
January 19, 2021
No que consiste um truque de magia? É somente a habilidade de um mágico de fazer um truque ou envolve mais do que isso? Nesta história curta Ian McDonald nos mostra que a malandragem também faz parte desse caldo que permite ao mágico encantar suas multidões. Ele consegue trazer para nós uma história incrível que mostra que uma Inteligência Artificial não pode superar o homem em tudo... simplesmente por que ela não consegue ser malandra.
Estamos em um bar ao lado de um dos seguranças do Buena Vista que nos conta a história de como Jack Caruana enfrentou uma inteligência artificial em um combate do século. Quando Remi é instalado para deter os roubos e os malandros do cassino, ela parece ter se focado nos truques de mágica de Jack. Em uma ideia genial, o protagonista, Jack e mais alguns amigo decidem armar para Remi e derrotá-la em seu próprio jogo. O que se verá a seguir é um espetáculo do século com direito a participação de outros mágicos e até de algumas celebridades como Taylor Swift.
Que delícia de escrita Ian McDonald nos proporciona. Sério, a leitura flui deliciosamente. A ponto de conseguirmos imaginar a voz do narrador nos contando a história. História bem simples e fácil de entender com elementos de gênero bem contidos. No fundo se trata de uma narrativa a la The Prestige com um foco em como a magia é o nosso passaporte para algo que vai além da compreensão humana. E como gostamos de ver truques mágicos. Os personagens são bem interessantes e a relação entre o protagonista e Jack é próxima principalmente porque nosso segurança entende um pouco de truques mágicos. Vale mencionar também que o protagonista é um personagem-orelha, nos contado detalhes sobre mágicas, mas em nenhum momento as informações são chatas ou representam um info dumping. Isso porque o estilo de McDonald de narrar nos prende na história.
Essa é uma boa narrativa que retoma o debate de homem vs máquina, de Kasparov contra um sistema feito para derrotá-lo. Como derrotar algo que não pensa, não sente e não pode ser intimidado? É a partir desse questionamento que Jack começa a montar sua armadilha. Em um show, a apresentação pragmática não entretém o público. Um artista de palco precisa dominar o seu público e isso só é feito ao se conhecer os truques e as manhas. Como diz o protagonista, um mágico inicia seu truque muito antes de subir ao palco. Ele não vai lidar com desvio, mas com o foco. Aonde estamos focados? Para onde olhamos? O final é impagável e vou parar por aqui. Peguem essa narrativa curta e só se divirtam.
Estamos em um bar ao lado de um dos seguranças do Buena Vista que nos conta a história de como Jack Caruana enfrentou uma inteligência artificial em um combate do século. Quando Remi é instalado para deter os roubos e os malandros do cassino, ela parece ter se focado nos truques de mágica de Jack. Em uma ideia genial, o protagonista, Jack e mais alguns amigo decidem armar para Remi e derrotá-la em seu próprio jogo. O que se verá a seguir é um espetáculo do século com direito a participação de outros mágicos e até de algumas celebridades como Taylor Swift.
Que delícia de escrita Ian McDonald nos proporciona. Sério, a leitura flui deliciosamente. A ponto de conseguirmos imaginar a voz do narrador nos contando a história. História bem simples e fácil de entender com elementos de gênero bem contidos. No fundo se trata de uma narrativa a la The Prestige com um foco em como a magia é o nosso passaporte para algo que vai além da compreensão humana. E como gostamos de ver truques mágicos. Os personagens são bem interessantes e a relação entre o protagonista e Jack é próxima principalmente porque nosso segurança entende um pouco de truques mágicos. Vale mencionar também que o protagonista é um personagem-orelha, nos contado detalhes sobre mágicas, mas em nenhum momento as informações são chatas ou representam um info dumping. Isso porque o estilo de McDonald de narrar nos prende na história.
Essa é uma boa narrativa que retoma o debate de homem vs máquina, de Kasparov contra um sistema feito para derrotá-lo. Como derrotar algo que não pensa, não sente e não pode ser intimidado? É a partir desse questionamento que Jack começa a montar sua armadilha. Em um show, a apresentação pragmática não entretém o público. Um artista de palco precisa dominar o seu público e isso só é feito ao se conhecer os truques e as manhas. Como diz o protagonista, um mágico inicia seu truque muito antes de subir ao palco. Ele não vai lidar com desvio, mas com o foco. Aonde estamos focados? Para onde olhamos? O final é impagável e vou parar por aqui. Peguem essa narrativa curta e só se divirtam.
January 1, 2019
I guess the best way to describe my impression of this short story will be to just 'shrug it off". I didn't get it, but a colloquial 'let me tell ya a story, hon' writing style almost always gets me.
Read it at tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
Read it at tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
August 25, 2024
We as humans love to develop things to lengths that they sometimes shouldn't be. I think AI is one of the things we should stop progressing. I buy into the dystopian vibes that it could potentially cause and already there's freaky stuff going on (deep fakes, imagery fakes, and overall intelligence) This story takes some of those aspects and uses them in combination with magic and gambling to weave a tale of a man's plight with AI as it casually and unemotionally rips apart years of his dedicated work. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think it's the best short story I've read for my Tor short story challenge I'm doing this year thus far.
- What are some other things that humans should stop developing?
- How great is the potential for AI to run the earth?
- What are some other things that humans should stop developing?
- How great is the potential for AI to run the earth?
July 23, 2025
I didn't enjoy this at all. Books that talk a lot about ai but not much about other things are incredibly difficult to digest for me. There's an element of a heist and magic in this but the whole story left me feeling hungry for a decent short story. I'm not sure myself why Im giving this book two stars, instead of one. I think mostly because I didn't despise the whole story and I also read it. It just left something to be desired.
December 16, 2025
I enjoyed the story right up until the twist at the end, which went straight over my head. What is the significance of... Are these pop culture references that have passed me by?
I'm fine admitting I'm too dumb to get it. But I want to know...
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
I'm fine admitting I'm too dumb to get it. But I want to know...
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
June 12, 2018
Story: total genius. Characters: also genius. Weaknesses: writing quirks, such as - constant use of parentheses by colon. A total of 26 times in the story, what felt like twice per paragraph. If you think you're Elmore Leonard, then write like Elmore Leonard. Otherwise, come up with your own style.
October 21, 2025
A down at heel magician sets up the show of the century against an AI. If the AI can explain how the trick works, the magician promises to never perform the trick again.
McDonald's smart short story twists, turns, unfolds and reveals in such startling ways that the finale is literally a magic trick. Outstanding.
McDonald's smart short story twists, turns, unfolds and reveals in such startling ways that the finale is literally a magic trick. Outstanding.
June 11, 2018
Oh, this one's clever. Absolutely clever. And the tension, misdirection, just perfect. Read it over at https://www.tor.com/2018/05/22/the-gu...
July 8, 2024
Čekajte, poslednji trik je bio ono varanje u kazinu?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2024
An entertaining short story. The Magician vs the Machine
Read here: https://reactormag.com/the-guile-ian-...
Read here: https://reactormag.com/the-guile-ian-...
May 28, 2018
This short story was recomended by a friend from goodreads via her review for the same.
It's a fantastic, fun story about a old Magician pitted against the all knowing AI. Everyone loves an under-dog story. This one has likable everyday people in it. It kind of reminded me of the Ocean's Eleven movie where the stakes are high for the hero and he has to pull off an almost impossible task. The story also has a lot of pop culture references weaved in beautifully. For me, the best thing about the story was the plot twist in the end.
Enjoy.
It's a fantastic, fun story about a old Magician pitted against the all knowing AI. Everyone loves an under-dog story. This one has likable everyday people in it. It kind of reminded me of the Ocean's Eleven movie where the stakes are high for the hero and he has to pull off an almost impossible task. The story also has a lot of pop culture references weaved in beautifully. For me, the best thing about the story was the plot twist in the end.
Enjoy.
May 27, 2018
A friendly, personable short about a declining magician who decides to challenge the A.I. at his casino to a final duel. Could have used more detail. The setting was cool and the ending was satisfying.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews