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The Potboiler Podcast

The Potboiler Podcast

Written by: Patrick Hughes
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About this listen

We need more fiction.

We need more beguiling villains worthy of the conflicted hero’s pursuit.

Their smokey rooms have to be soaked in familiar imagery, while swift subversions of any genre’s expectations make their entrances and turn over their tables. The roads they’re on have to twist and turn their mission so they lose sight of the incitement far behind them.

We need Hollow Grim, noir sleuth manhunter rifleman, and Eric Verrity, misunderstood superhuman crime fighter, among a small series of revolving main characters.

Welcome to the Potboiler. Pulpy paperback genre fiction with some fresh paint.

Good, fun reading for your ears.

Find out more at on my website: https://patrickhughes.ca/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick Hughes
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Episodes
  • The Hero Business - Part 10
    Feb 7 2026

    Part 10


    The business of Eric Verrity the Hero begins, according to the plan imposed by his new PR guy, with an appearance on a national talk show.


    The audience adores him, roaring their appreciation with every question from the talk show host.


    Eric feels the stage lights radiating down on him as his new reality loads more weight on him by the minute, and the cheers from the crowd increasingly feel more burdensome and heavy.


    He begins to see that this fame will make his contribution into something different. The people around him seem to want that very thing.


    The episodes of this story will be offered with no embedded commercial interruption. Visit https://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.


    Eric Verrity Rocks




    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • The Hero Business - Part 9
    Jan 11 2026

    Welcome to The Potboiler.


    Potboiler is an old term for pulpy paperback genre writing that’s ready for the spotlight.


    Let’s do the intro.


    Three months have passed since Eric Verrity’s valiant rescue at the National Life Building and his life has changed dramatically.


    His relationship with Molly has flourished, as has his connection with his once estranged foster brother Todd. Following the expansive notoriety of Eric’s superhuman efforts, the world sees him in a different way, and that is proving to be a discomfort.


    His routine with his therapist, Benjamin, has also notably changed. Benjamin’s concern has shifted to Eric’s comings and goings, and public interactions, seemingly with an eye on his heroic career. To that end, a PR specialist arrives soon after to counsel them on the brand they intend to make Eric into.


    Later back at home, Molly sees a dangerous potential in the suit and the logo Eric shows her, with an uncertain swell of pride. She knows the story won’t be his to tell for much longer.


    The episodes of this story will be offered with no embedded commercial interruption. Visit https://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.


    Eric Verrity Rocks



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Hollow Grim & The Third Worthington Murder - Part 3
    Dec 26 2025

    Hollow Grim is on the trail of Werner Worthington III, the closest thing he’s ever known to an arch enemy, and a notorious crimeboss that has reportedly already been killed twice since the deployment of his dead or alive arrest warrant.


    The twists and turns of the thickening hunt has taken Hollow to Worm’s own fortress, where a showdown waits for him and the growing band of hunters on the same trail.


    The turns in the road continues as they close in on the truth of the Worthington murders and the outcome of too many hunters with the same target.


    The episodes of this story will be offered with no commercial interruptions. Visit https://patrickhughes.ca/ for links to me and to my other projects. Please stick around after the story for some light business.


    Enjoy


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
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