A New Novel From Jose Coronado‑Flores

Jose Coronado‑Flores, author of a new novel, Voyages of an Oceanless Boat, is a Guatemalan‑immigrant writer whose path stretches from a childhood shaped by poverty in Florida to earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, where he became the first creative‑thesis author in the Comparative Literature Department. His family immigrated seeking medical care and opportunity for his younger brother, and Jose’s drive carried him through the International Baccalaureate program and into a life committed to storytelling and justice.

Jose Coronado‑Flores, author of Voyages of an Oceanless Boat

Now pursuing a master’s in mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, he also draws on his years as a climate‑justice policy analyst for CASA. That work inspired him to launch his own solar installation company, Flores Photovoltaics LLC, dedicated to reducing pollution’s health impacts.

His novel follows Izzy, Oscar, and Michael as they grow up in a blistering Florida neighborhood where futures feel prewritten. When reality fractures—skin turning to ash, moonlit chases, swamps that hunt—the three confront whether escape is myth or survival demands embracing the world that shaped them. Voyages of an Oceanless Boat blends lyrical prose and surreal imagery into a haunting story of fate, illusion, and resilience.