Harbouring a dark secret from his past,
immortal Lord Blake from medieval England arrives mysteriously in a sleepy
coastal town in Georgia, USA. There he
meets Hugo Wegener, an ex-doctor who is burdened with his own dark secret, and
life-long resident Ginny Harrison, who is involved in her aging father’s absurd
dream of refurbishing and reopening the town’s long-defunct zoo. As Blake’s relationship with Ginny blooms, he
finds himself involved in the insane zoo project and, when Bruce Kelly, an
exotic game smuggler from South Africa, arrives in town on the eve of the grand
reopening with a plan to rid the zoo of its valuable animal species, it is up
to Blake, Hugo, and the old man to stop him, without revealing the terrible
secrets of their pasts.
Purchase Links
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beasts-Cage-Altgelt/dp/191355192X/
US - https://www.amazon.com/Beasts-Cage-Altgelt/dp/191355192X/
Excerpt
Below we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the long life
of our protagonist, Ainsley Blake. This
scene, only a small portion of which is printed below, provides insight at long
last into his deep history, and offers a glimpse of the circumstances that gave
rise to his present character. It is one
of my favorite chapters, exciting and informative. The depth it provides Blake, and the sympathy
it inspires in those alongside him, make it a favorite among readers as well.
When the silhouettes of those bearing the torches finally gained a true
form through the darkness, Blake called out, “Who goes there? You are trespassing on my lands and I demand
an explanation. This is not the conduct
of civilized men to storm the house of a noble with undeclared intentions in
the dead of night.”
It was a round-bellied man of average height and about thirty years of
age who answered him, “Hold your tongue, Lord Blake. We are making the demands tonight, sir.”
Blake, fixing the man with a calculating stare that was full of venom,
replied, “You are aware that I could have you hanged for this?”
The man did not answer but turned to one of his subordinates in the
crowd behind him and said, “Bring him forward.”
There was a murmuring in the crowd, followed by a shuffling, and then
someone emerged from the interior at the round man’s side. This new man was gaunt and pockmarked, and he
walked with such a pronounced limp that Blake was certain that he would
collapse with each stride. He did not
hold a torch, and when Blake followed his thin arms down to his hands to see
why, he noticed that they were each frozen tight in unmovable fists and
blackened with the telltale signs of advanced gangrene. This man was not able to hold a torch—he was
not able to hold anything at all.
The round man spoke again, “Tell him what you saw, Turner.”
Being called forth like this in the face of the great Lord Blake, and
then asked to recount the reason for which they had come, seemed to be too much
for the invalid, and he said nothing for a few moments. Instead, he stared petrified at Blake’s
narrowed eyes, seemingly unable to move.
The round man put a consoling arm on the frightened man’s shoulder and
said in a reassuring tone, “Go on, Turner.
No one can hurt you here. Tell us
all what you saw.”
Turner, seemingly emboldened by this consolation,
pointed a single, mummified fist straight at Blake and said, “Him! I saw him!
It was he who decimated my village.”
Author
Bio –
I am a Risk Management executive and
Investor in Texas but I moonlight as a writer, short-film maker, musician,
composer and world traveller (or, I was a world traveller in the pre-COVID
days). In music, I have released 2
full-length albums (one of which is still available) and 2 E.P.s. I have published one humor book entitled 101
TIPS AND REVELATIONS FROM A MODERN DAY CYNIC (Black Rose Writing, 2017). IN THE BEAST’S CAGE is my first novel, but I
have a second already in progress and no plans of slowing down. I have also written countless blogs, poems,
short stories, essays and movie scripts in addition to my more sprawling
fiction projects. Because of my work in
the Risk Management industry, I spend a great deal of time in London working
closely with Lloyd’s and can be found in that country often as a result. I have a wife (Alejandra) and two children, a
3-year-old daughter (Sophia) and a 1-year-old son (Otto) who was born in the
midst of this pandemic. My wife is a
dual-citizen of Mexico and Spain and had been living in London for 2 years
prior to us meeting.
Social
Media Links –
Website: www.macaltgelt.com
Twitter / Instagram: @macaltgelt
https://www.instagram.com/macaltgelt/
https://twitter.com/macaltgelt
Facebook: www.facebook.com/macaltgeltwriter/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/macaltgelt
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