[Randy M.]

[...]
'Voices of our Shadow', by Jonathon Carroll, rereleased as part of the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks series would also be a good choice.
Oh, yeah! I'm annoyed with myself for not thinking of the Carroll. Arguably the darkest book I've read by him.

Randy M.

[Mithfânion]

Omgosh me and Mithfânion are in the same boat, although The Prestige spanks The Illusionist

I would agree in retrospect that The Prestige is a slightly better film. They're really quite different though.

BTW unrelated to stage magicicians but definitly related to evil clowns and freak circusses is a 2007 debut called "The Pilo Family Circus" by Will Elliott ( only out in the UK sofar). It's a very strong story, tightly written.

[Mock]

I would agree in retrospect that The Prestige is a slightly better film. They're really quite different though.

Yeah they are I'm just a sucker for movies that make you think. After seeing The Prestige and The Departed I was watching The Lord of the Rings, which I considered my favorite movie(s) of all time, and it was still good but I'll never look at movies in the same light . . . Those damn directors have scarred me for life!

[Rob B]

Gregory Frost's Shadowbridge might fall under this umbrella. Though the protagonist is not exactly a magician, she does have great theatrics and there is a sense of magic about what she does in her shadow-puppet plays.

[FJG]

Paul Auster's Mr. Vertigo is very good, as I recall. It's about traveling stage levitationists.