Blog Archives
The Victory in Fighting
In Prodigal Song, readers follow you on your journey from your childhood in LA to your time spent as a struggling rock guitarist in Hollywood. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I started writing Prodigal Song shortly after completing a novel called Body: or, How Hope Confronts Her Shadow and Calls the Flutter Girl to Flight. Body is an inspirational romantic comedy exploring self-image and struggles with body image. I had many inspirations for the female protagonist’s issues, but my own story was the main source. I wrote Body with a female audience in mind, which greatly shaped how the characters related to their bodies and how that impacted their relationships and lives. I shared my own journey of identity, music, exercise, and obsessiveness with a friend who thought it would make a great book. I realized that by telling my own story, I could create a book that would explore themes of identity in a way that resonates more with men.
Also, I came of age in a time when everyone was in a band or wanted to be in one. I wanted to give Gen Xers an insider’s view of what it was like being in the Southern California music scene in the 1990s and 2000s, while letting them relish in the nostalgia of that time.
Ultimately, I want my books to be sources of insight and encouragement to readers. I know many people struggle with the themes in Prodigal Song—body image, identity, failure, anxiety, the need for adventure ,and meaning. I hope my story offers perspectives that help readers better understand and navigate their own journeys.
You are open and honest about your most difficult years, and I appreciate the candor with which you tell your story. What was the most difficult thing to write about?
I see Prodigal Song as my version of the first Rocky movie. Spoiler alert for a nearly 50-year-old film: Rocky doesn’t win the fight. He wins most of the fights in the sequels, but there is something sweet—and paradoxically victorious—in the failure explored in the iconic character’s debut. Sharing embarrassing stories wasn’t necessarily difficult, but I faced the challenge of writing a memoir about someone who didn’t succeed in the music business and making that compelling for readers. As Sylvester Stallone did, I had to show the victory in fighting regardless of the outcome.
What do you do when you try extremely hard to achieve a dream—for years—and the split decision doesn’t go your way? More people relate to this experience than to winning the championship belt. The hardest part was writing a book that offers fresh, meaningful insights into this well-worn path.
Is there anything you learned about yourself as you were putting Prodigal Song together?
The subtitle of Prodigal Song is A Gen X Memoir of Excess and Obsession in Pursuit of the Rock ’n’ Roll Dream. I brought the excess and obsession to my story—it was my friends who helped me channel those tendencies into a way forward, one with balance, accomplishments, and joy, even in the face of setbacks and failures.
In the book, I quote a lyric one of my friends wrote:
I don’t know where I’m going
But I know that where I am is not what I’d planned
I don’t know the way out
But I know that when a door is there
I will have a hand.
— Aaron Baker from his song “Someday”
Putting a book like this together, you really see all the unlikely events of your life that had to come together to bring you to the present—and I’m very thankful for my present. I’ve always been aware of how important my friends were along the way, but writing this book emphasized even more that my adventures in music and exercise were really adventures in friendship. At every step of my journey, I found a “door” to enter, and at every door was the helping and guiding “hand” of one of my friends, as Aaron’s lyric captures.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from the experiences you share in this book?
I hope this book can reinforce for readers the power of relationships—that our journeys gain meaning primarily through the connections we create with friends, family, and God. And in that communion, we can live in gratitude, regardless of whether our pursuit of goals and dreams leads to triumph, failure, or some wild, messy combination of the two.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Part comedy, part cautionary tale, Prodigal Song offers a nostalgic and humorous take on chasing fame in the most image-obsessed place on Earth—Hollywood, California.
For many, the rock ’n’ roll dream ends in rehab, bad tattoos, or worse. For me, it led to a loss of faith and a ballooning waistline. By age twenty-five, I was overweight and spiritually flailing while trying to succeed in an industry where image is everything. So began a decade-long journey of excess and obsession—over my body, my diet, and the pursuit of success in music. I dropped 65 pounds, transformed into a touring musician, and was “living the dream,” though my soul was increasingly out of tune.
Enter an unexpected mentor—a straight-talking, virtuoso guitarist with a gift for speaking hard truths. Through his wisdom, I began to see beyond the mirror and uncover a path to redemption.
Prodigal Song is a story of excess and obsession, but it’s also one of grace, humor, and finding faith in the unlikeliest of places. Whether you’re a music fan, a dreamer, or someone who’s ever struggled with self-worth, this Gen X memoir will leave you laughing, reflecting, and inspired.
Prodigal Song: A Gen X Memoir of Excess and Obsession in Pursuit of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dream
Prodigal Song is a deeply personal and wildly entertaining memoir chronicling Sean Coons’ journey from a chubby, music-obsessed kid in 1980s Los Angeles to a struggling rock guitarist trying to make it in the heart of Hollywood. The book traces Coons’ obsession with rock stardom, his battles with body image and compulsive eating, and the wild misadventures with his band, Song Unsung. It’s a raw look at the pursuit of artistic dreams, the trappings of self-indulgence, and the eventual pull toward redemption and meaning. Coons mixes humor with brutal honesty, all set against a vivid backdrop of ’80s and ’90s pop culture.
Coons’ writing is funny, sharp, and full of heart. He doesn’t try to make himself look cool or mysterious or tragic. He just tells the truth, warts and all. I loved how he could pivot from describing an embarrassing childhood moment to riffing on Van Halen lyrics or unraveling the twisted ethics of rock culture with surprising insight. I found myself rooting for him, even as he made bad choices or spiraled into food binges and self-doubt. It’s rare to find a memoir that’s this self-aware without being self-important.
What hit me hardest, though, were the moments where the glamor faded, and the raw stuff came through. When Coons realizes he’s eaten himself into obesity while chasing his dream, it’s not played for pity or laughs, it’s just sad and real. The way he weaves in spirituality, guilt, and the need for grace without ever getting preachy or stiff made the book resonate on a deeper level. He never quite gives up on his dream, but he learns that the real victory might not be fame at all. That really stuck with me. It made me think about my own ambitions and the things I’ve let define me, for better or worse.
If you’re someone who grew up loving rock ’n’ roll, or if you’ve ever felt out of place chasing a dream in a world that doesn’t seem to care, Prodigal Song will speak to you. It’s perfect for fans of memoirs like Rob Sheffield’s Love Is a Mix Tape or anyone who likes their nostalgia with a side of truth. You don’t need to be a musician to appreciate this story, you just need to have wanted something badly enough to lose yourself in the process.
Pages: 215 | ASIN : B0FG2PFXNT
On Their Adventure Home
Firefly: Let There Be Light follows a young firefly who performs a daredevil stunt and has it go horribly wrong. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
One of the many reasons I love writing fiction is that, once a character is established in my mind, the character takes the story from there. Of course, I plan parts of the plot, and the characters comply, but often, they act in my imagination and I just write it all down, especially when it comes to dialogue. In the case of the inciting incident of the story, I knew that it was protagonist Flash’s reckless nature that should be the cause of the shakeup of his (and his friend’s) world. And from there, I just thought, what would a wily firefly do when he’s out on an errand for his father? I won’t spoil the story with the details, but the Flash in my imagination was eager to be especially irresponsible in his pursuit of thrills and to impress his friends. Also, one of my favorite books is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which a boy and his friend travel far from their home. I thought it would be interesting to do the opposite in Firefly—take the characters far away and then follow them on their adventure home.
Flash thinks he knows it all but quickly learns there is much about life he doesn’t know. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
If Flash was a human, he’d be a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, and that is the time of life when boys and girls start thinking more like an adult than like a child. When we’re that age, we start to “feel” that we understand life, and our knowledge of life is indeed growing rapidly at that time, but it turns out that we all still have much to learn—especially when it comes to self-restraint and responsibility. Flash is that character—he thinks he’s ready to take on the world. He can fly. He can emit flight. He is, in fact, quite clever. But a cocky firefly, much like an over-confident human, will find that the world is a little more complicated, and less forgiving, than he expected.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I think there is a tendency today to downplay courage as a virtue because that quality is often found in people who are like Flash—those who are unafraid to speak their mind, those who are risk-taking adventurers whose behavior sometimes crosses over into recklessness. This story proposes the idea that courage is indeed a virtue, and people should not abandon their courageous spirit to rid themselves of their risk-taking or reckless nature—instead, they should learn to harness their power, use their boldness responsibly, and be courageous, not in reckless abandon but to serve and help others in need. The overarching theme of the book is that the deepest love is not an emotional reaction that gives a person a sense of excitement, but it is sacrificial service of others—our family, friends, and community.
Will this novel be the start of a series or are you working on a different story?
I wrote Firefly: Let There Be Light to be a standalone story, but also to be an origin story for Flash and his band of misfits. I do plan to use this origin story as a launching point for a more episodic series called The Misadventures of Flash and the Misfits. These will be shorter books with a feel similar to episodes of a TV show, as opposed to the more feature film-feel of Firefly: Let There Be Light. Each book will have Flash and his friends encountering a mystery or challenge in Temple Hollow and using their unusual collection of talents (and quirks) to comically approach the problem. Book 1 is underway with a seven book series being the ultimate plan.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Firefly Flash just gained the ability to illuminate and fly, and it’s gone to his head. He flits around his hometown of Temple Hollow avoiding work and finding mischief.
When his latest daredevil stunt spirals out of control, he lands himself and his two friends far from home in a dangerous desert in Texas. Meanwhile, Temple Hollow is captured by a goon-squad of tyrannical dragonflies—and that’s Flash’s fault, too.
After a mysterious encounter in the desert, Flash inspires a ragtag band of Misfits to join him on his mission to return home. The Misfits encounter trouble at every turn, yet these challenges are nothing compared to the epic battle awaiting them back in Temple Hollow.
Packed with comedy, action, and insights for children of all ages, this middle grade adventure is the perfect chapter book for independent, family, and classroom reading.
Read Firefly today—and see the Light!
Firefly
Firefly: Let There Be Light by Sean Coons presents a middle-grade adventure with a meaningful lesson within. When a mischievous firefly named Flash learns how to illuminate and fly for the first time, he makes reckless decisions and invites trouble into his town. As a result of his latest stunt, he unintentionally unleashes a tyrannical dragonfly attack in Temple Hollow. At the same time, he and his friends find themselves stranded in a dangerous desert in Texas. Amidst the mysterious desert, he inspires a motley crew of misfits to help him get home, but is he prepared for all the challenges that lie ahead?
Sean Coons has written an enticing tale with amusement suitable for children of all ages. He has interwoven real life with his fictional world of insects by setting this story in existing US towns. Various insects make up the exciting cast in Coons’ book, and he has used dialects of different languages to make this book even more enjoyable.
The author engages his fictitious cast in scenarios that illustrate real-life lessons, such as the battle between good and evil, democracy and tyranny, the importance of friendship, and, most importantly, the cost and consequences of actions. Flash’s wild and daredevil-like spirit will enthrall young readers, and when they watch him own up to his reckless decisions and do everything in his power to correct them, they will likely want to do the same. In addition, several riveting plot twists will pique children’s interests and keep them engaged throughout the story and into the exciting finale.
Firefly, written by Sean Coons for his son, is a middle-grade chapter book that kids worldwide can relate to and enjoy. Filled with fatherly advice and love, this coming-of-age story is an incredible adventure with humor and words of wisdom that will delight the whole family.
Pages: 317 | ASIN : B0BSBVJK2Z
LITERARY TITAN 