Slaves to the Senses

frightened nervous masses | 

in cages of flesh and bone | 

sucking through mirrored tunnels | 

shadows they call life /

The fourth book of tales by Eduardo Capistrano explores the traps of the senses: insufficient tools on which we rely to decipher a world of illusions.

The collection opens with Polished Metal, the tragicomic story of two friends that could be twin brothers. The Assassin Statue is a report on a museum piece surrounded by a terrible legend. Golden Promises follows a disillusioned groom in an unhappy escapade. In Folie à Deux, a father and one of his sons look for reality after the storm. In Chimera in Pieces, a man replaces all of his body with prosthetics. A company delivery man discovers what is The Prey of Man. Based on the work of Erik Satie, Vexations shows the repetitive challenge taken by an arrogant musician. Reflections on Torment shows the bitter existence of a man constantly attacked by a reflection. The author proposes A Russian Enigma about the various versions that a story can have.

Eccentric Vision is not only the perspective but also the solution of a painter for his lost sight, which is taken by creatures that are, in one way or another, fruits of his mind. Almost Cyrano is a bizarre subversion of Rostand's romantic. The most skilled musician of a distant Empire is summoned to play In the Court of the Canary King. In (ghûl), a lost man try to find himself, while a friend also tries to find him. Nobody wants to work at The Abandoned Station, and we follow its last occupant fo find out why. Dark Eyes watch a company's emissary to an island in which experiments went wrong. The Venus Effect accompanies someone who discovers a tool for self-affirmation. The Musica Universalis resounds in the surreal world found by a technician in the sewers. Pupilla is a visual nightmare about the eyes. The Old Man with the Candle is a legend on a peculiar town where everyone is beautiful.

The collection finishes with a search in a used bookstore resulting in a strange Book of Recipes that aren't for the weak stomachs.