Casca: The Outcast

This is the illegal story written by Paul Dengelegi in 2003/4 following the cessation of his contract to write Casca stories.  Without the permission of the Casca franchise owners, he wrote this story and arranged with Americana Audio, a company that has since ceased trading, to publish it in CD format.  No paperback book was ever published and this story, optimistically numbered 25 in the series (subsequently taken by the authorised Halls of Montezuma) is only here for information purposes.  No copy will ever be sold or published to anyone.

The story, set over 3 CDs, appears to take place in Victorian times in London.  Reference was made to the French Grande Armee (1812) as a past event, and twice the dialogue referred to the 'Queen', something that must refer to Victoria (1837-1901).  The story is simple enough.  Casca is a prize fighter in the rough East End of London, a regular at Ike's pub and a friend of Ulysses, a young man who is of a nervous manner but faithful to Casca.  Casca wins his bouts easily enough but falls foul of a shootout by policemen in a market place where a merchant is selling slaves.  The policemen are accompanying a rich gentleman whose household clash with Ulysses over a young slave girl. Casca is shot twice and impaled on a bayonet, something that would kill most, but he comes to in a prison hulk on the Thames together with Ulysses and Ike who has inexplicably been arrested too, even though he was not present at the shootout.  During the voyage to Australia, a bully called Simon - a Scot - dominates the small group of prisoners chained with him in the same space.  There are plenty of fights staged on the ship at the behest of an unfeeling and sadistic captain, but one night Ulysses sneaks off and kills him.  He makes a eal with the First Mate to free the captain's personal girl slave and not harm him or any of the other prisoners.  This is agreed. The first Mate then puts Casca, Simon, Ike and Ulysses ashore on Tasmania where they are brought to a farm as indentured servants to fight for the owner against rival fighters.  Casca wins his bouts and becomes famous as Australia's champion.  They are then sent to fight against the champion of America but on the voyage across, on Pitcairn Island, they are mistakenly attacked by Royal Marines who think they are pirates, killing Ike and Casca.  Casca's body is saved by Ulysses who substitutes his coffin for one full of rocks and hides Casca away from the burial party.  The story ends there.

Listening to this story, over 2 hours 45 minutes, I was struck by how repetitive the sequences were.  Not much really happened except for frequent boxing bouts, not something I would have thought a Casca novel would consist of.  Casca The Boxer would have been a better title.  Once again, too much repetition and over description dominated this Dengelegi story, but even so I thought it flowed better than Liberator and Defiant.  However, carelessness in historical facts came through again.  Slavery was abolished in Great Britain by Act of Parliament in 1831 and had been more or less banned by popular assent long before that.  To have slaves openly sold in a London market wasn't authentic.  Other than that I was amused at the reader's attempts at a Scottish accent and a French accent (which began as a Mexican one!).  Dengelegi certainly likes Casca to have an annoying sidekick.  Ulysses was very much like the character of Marco Polo of Defiant fame, a young over talkative naive fellow who, like dog mess on your foot, was difficult to get rid of.

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