You know those hawk-eyed guys in air traffic control towers, staring at screens and barking into headsets? That was Patrick, for thirty-five years. While travelers zipped off to new destinations, returned to long lost friends, or just retched into barf bags, he would watch their souls track across his radar in a series of tiny, green blips. It wasn’t until he got home that he’d slide in front of his computer and embark on his own adventures — writing stories about underdogs standing up to bullies and overcoming all sorts of obstacles, inside and out. Patrick’s heroes might have been short on muscles and capes, but they were just as capable of changing the world.
In his debut novel Beyond Misery Bay, we meet Aaron, a fifteen-year-old stuck sailing across Lake Superior with his mom’s new boyfriend. Aaron is snarky, sullen, and loves to rock the boat. But in this adventure, the life vests are optional, and the deep water is deadly.
When he’s not inadvertently annoying his daughters, Patrick is reading, researching, and dreaming up his next mountain bike adventure or learning new riffs on his guitar.