The Potboiler Podcast

Following Eric’s brave intervention during an attempted robbery at her corner store, Molly insists on cooking Eric a home cooked meal. Watching her work in his kitchen, Eric recalls his the period of his childhood in the foster home of the Danvers, lead with images of the kind and maternal Mrs. Danvers, and his impressive foster brother Todd.His memories carry him through the formative period, and the rise and fall of his brotherly bond with Todd, who guided him, protected him and ultimately rejected him.The episodes of this story will be offered with no embedded commercial interruption. Visit patrickhughes.ca for links to me and to my other projects. Please stick around after the story for some light business.The Hero Business features excerpts from my novel The Valiant Unheroic - available for order on my website. https://patrickhughes.ca/

Eric is an exceptional young man that has spent his life being told that the things that make him special are flaws and limitations. He just wants to help. Helping a stranger at a moment of vulnerability is a complex thing. It’s a intrusion, even if it’s the right thing to do.As Eric begins his court mandated therapy, his friendship with Molly, the proprietress of his neighborhood’s grocery store, takes on a new dimension when he intervenes during an attempted robbery.The episodes of this story will be offered with no embedded commercial interruption. Visit patrickhughes.ca for links to me and to my other projects. Please stick around after the story for some light business.The Hero Business features excerpts from my novel The Valiant Unheroic - available for order on my website.

Who is your hero?Who comes through the dark of your nightmare to defend you from your worst fear? When that image appears in your mind’s eye, what qualities define what you see?Is your hero the kind of idol we all have grown to know, impressive by every physical standard, instantly worthy of your trust and your favor? Is your hero a statue, a movie poster, a legend?What if the figure that emerged through the shadows and smoke with an outstretched hand was not impressive to you in any popular measure? He doesn’t look like your hero. He’s humble and average in every way. He can do things no one else can but has spent his life told he’s unexceptional. He has never been considered super. He just wants to help.The Hero Business features excerpts from my novel. Links and more information can be found on my website: www.patrickhughes.ca

Hollow’s strategy has turned to desperation. Uncertain in the dropping temperature exactly how much of his life has left him, he knows his choice now to act or let the cold take him, but without knowing which of the judge’s enemies has taken this action his disadvantage is practically a death sentence.The three episodes of this story will be offered with no commercial interruptions. Visit patrickhughes.ca for links to me and to my other projects. Please stick around after the story for some light business.

Every year ends with winter. It comes to an end like everything else, with lifeless unforgiving cold. As Hollow Grim monitors his wounds, as the temperature drops, and as the day grows increasingly dire, the search through his memory of Judge Jameson’s past for a suspect continues to occupy his mind.  He needs to know the rifle that has him cornered on the frozen ridge so he can determine how to retaliate, escape or survive.Find more at my website: https://patrickhughes.ca/

On a desolate day in January, Hollow Grim is hunting deer on a familiar trail, where Doc Shillington’s land backs on to Judge Irving Jameson’s expansive family property. Hiking the migration path Hollow has hunted on since his father used to take him every Sunday, a rifle shot from across the valley suddenly makes him the hunted, taking shelter on the frigid cliffside.Unable to move without entering the rifleman’s crosshairs and uncertain of his position, Hollow has the threat of the quickly dropping temperature moving the urgency up as the day continues to pass.  He pours through his knowledge of Judge Jameson’s past, to keep his addled mind occupied in the cold, and to form a suspect so he can mount his defence. Check my website: https://patrickhughes.ca/