In a storm-swept tavern in a village of yore, Cornelius, the secretive sorcerer's apprentice, gives the unsuspecting Professor Gast a key - one with the power to unlock the doors of the magical Castle of Desires. Within its chambers are all that any man could wish for: wealth, leisure, servants, lovers - and, if he so desires, he may even summon up a military empire ... On the eve of Hallowe'en, 1937, Maximilian Richter arrives at the cartoon studios of Pineville, an isolated gated community in the sun-kissed Californian hills. As a bit-part actor in early talkies - as gangster, tough guy, hired muscle, hoodlum - every scene Max had been in had simmered with sin. And now, within the walls of Pineville, Max is free to cheat and sweet-talk his way into the affections of the unsuspecting community, stirring up a secret storm of seduction, vice and violence. Neale Osborne's allegorical novel is a unique period piece set on the edge of historical Hollywood ... and deep in the chambers of a mythical fortress.