Behind the Stories
Every story has someone behind it. Usually someone who spends far too much time imagining the worst possible decisions other people could make.
Gianluca De Falco
Gianluca De Falco writes stories about imperfect people, unlikely situations, and lives that rarely unfold according to plan.
His fiction moves between irony, the grotesque, melancholy, and noir, with a fondness for sharp dialogue, visual storytelling, and characters who have a remarkable talent for getting themselves into trouble.
His early novels appeared under the pen name J.L. Defoe. They enjoyed a rather discreet literary existence, almost becoming publishing legends known to a select few.
Then came a silence of almost ten years. Not necessarily a strategic one.
In 2026, he returned to publishing under his own name, with revised editions of La Gallina Cleopatra and La felicità costa cinque euro, alongside his new novel, A Siviglia piove al contrario.
His novels have since reached international readers through English-language editions: Cleopatra the Hen, Happiness Costs Five Euros, and In Seville, It Rains Backwards.
His stories often begin with ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. What follows may involve secrets, dangerous encounters, questionable choices, or journeys that take a decidedly unexpected turn. Sometimes all at once.
In In Seville, It Rains Backwards, three men travel across Andalusia, meeting complicated people and confronting stories that refuse to stay buried.
As the journey unfolds, reaching the destination becomes perhaps the least important part of the adventure.
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“Sometimes the most extraordinary stories begin with perfectly ordinary people making terribly wrong decisions.”
Stories about people who rarely do the right thing. And who are all the more interesting for it.
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