In "The King and the Clockmaker," the author examines the origins of evil and the meaning of time. The story itself is a nightmarish dream - a dream the narrator consciously has in order to avoid the pain of loss, and the random, senseless violence of the real world. In this dream, which reads like a sinister fairytale, there are two main characters, the king and the clockmaker.

The clockmaker builds the most magnificent clock for the king, who's always been obsessed with time. Afterwards, however, the king sears the clockmaker's eyes with molten iron. Thus begins their disturbing relationship, for the kind clockmaker is set on getting his revenge, and the terrible king, in some ill way, seeks his forgiveness. As they come to know each other, bonded by the infamous clock, truths emerge about the king, his childhood, and his gruesome nature. They become oddly dependant on one another until the king's demise. Afterwards, the clockmaker's journey continues, a journey that takes him through many pathways.

This novella in particular is filled with complex metaphors and allegories, and some scenes shine with vivid, haunting imagery. More poignant segments include the king killing a bird, then impaling it to bury it; or another even more lingering, the king happily lying under the bleeding body of his servant, whom he has just stabbed to death, and afterwards needing three bronze tubs of fresh water to cleanse himself of all the blood.

Sanchez also uses elements of magical realism to add intricacy and symbolism to the writing, as in the scene where a woman is turned into a stone and later on, when someone splits the stone, the woman's heart is found inside it. She also gives forest animals preternatural attributes, as in the case of the buck and the mountain lion, thus adding to the magical realism effect.

The dream in this novella is an allegory of the perverse cruelty of the world, of "the accumulation of violence that is everywhere around us." (109) " However vast the expanse of time and space that surrounds us," reflects the narrator, "every soul entrapped in a human body is trapped in a cell with the poisonous snake of violence coiled in a corner ready to strike." (109)

In the last novella, "The Vast Darkness," we meet Sara, a young student of anthropology who, temporarily, takes residence in the mountains to study the influence of isolated mountain living upon its residents. She soon becomes acquainted with Robert, a sinister young man who arouses fear in people and who enjoys manipulating them into committing 'evil' acts.