Giraffe Horn: The Story Behind the Book
The story of Giraffe Horn and Other Strange Side Effects could be said to have started six years ago, when I wrote the first draft of Reflejo, but I believe it goes much further back. This book is the culmination of a chapter in my life—a journey that began when I was seven years old and, knowing nothing about the world of literature, decided I wanted to be a writer. Ever since, I’ve woven words around vampires, intergalactic voyages, murderers, witches, but above all, people.
Over the years, iteration has been my only constant. At thirteen, when I discovered Poe and short fiction as a genre, I was convinced I wanted to write like that—at least in terms of horror. With a child’s innocence, I swore I would write five-hundred-page novels or more. In the following years, I mainly read horror and fantasy, until I turned eighteen and began studying engineering. That’s when I realized writing was my only escape to find some peace of mind. From my first week in college, I knew that program would only bring me two things: despair and, eventually, a university diploma.
Several years passed in which I wrote a little bit of this and that. Toward the end of 2018—likely around Halloween—I started the first draft of what is now Reflejo: just a couple of pages and a working title tied to letters and a lost memory. Then, in 2019, when I joined the Literary Creation Workshop at the University of Antioquia, everything began to take shape.
During my first semester in the workshop, I presented the initial versions of two stories: La habitación and El lector (the latter, interestingly, remains unfinished as of writing this). Two things from that environment marked a turning point in my creative process. First, having the chance to be heard and read objectively, which gave me the confidence to believe that, if I truly wanted it, I could fulfill my childhood dream. Second, Professor Luis Fernando Macías’s recommendation to read Roald Dahl’s short stories.
That marked the start of the most productive phase of my writing. Discovering Dahl’s work was a turning point: his unique style, his twists, and his ability to blend the real with the absurd unleashed a torrent of creativity in me like no other author had before. It was then that the first drafts of El sastre, La señora Holmes, and Cuerno de Jirafa were born.
Along the way, other influences helped shape this anthology in its final form. First was a specialized creative writing course at Wesleyan University, where I discovered, among other things, the ABDCE structure, which substantially improved my technique. Then came my encounter with several stories by Henry James, which inspired me to write Interior and Historia de una infidelidad.
Over the years, writing has been much more than a pastime—it has been my refuge and my way of understanding the world. Giraffe Horn and Other Strange Side Effects is not just a collection of stories but a reflection of my evolution as a writer. Each story is a piece of this journey, from that kid who wrote about vampires to the adult who finds his true place in words. Publishing this book is the realization of a dream and, at the same time, a promise that every new story will be an exploration of both the fantastic and the everyday. Thank you for joining me on this literary path; I hope each story surprises and moves everyone who ventures into its pages.
