Two new Books

I recently published two new books on Amazon Kindle. One is a novel and the other is a nonfiction business book.

The novel, HALF-BREED is a period western that is unique to my writing style because it isn’t humorous. In fact, it’s bloody and ruthless. Set in southern Arizona in the late 1800’s, it deals with social stigmas plus the cruelties of whites, Mexicans, and Indians; specifically the Chiricahua Apache.

The business book, $HARE THE WEALTH, is series of operational formulas I used in the various businesses I owned over the years (30+). It was a system I developed in 1977 and refined over the years. Anyone in business can appreciate the simplicity of the methods described in my first nonfiction book to be offered. The book includes formulas for sales as well as operations.

Currently these books are exclusively on Amazon Kindle. In days to come they will be published by Barnes and Noble’s Pubit.
Both books as well as the other nine published offer a trial read. Check them out: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Robert+Hatting&x=14&y=22

Boredom, Books, and Ozone Therapy

Almost two months has lapsed since my heart attack. My recovery is slow but sure. My diet had to change…it has and it is boring. Eating foods without sodium or salt is a much larger challenge than one would think; also a lot of work. I have to make everything from scratch like Grandma did; baking bread, muffins, biscuits, and soon making mayonnaise and mustard. Everything on the grocery shelves is loaded with sodium; to me it’s the same as arsenic.


In my spare time between lowering my blood pressure by camping in my hammock, I was able to finish the first draft of HALF-BREED, a period western set in southern Arizona. I’ll start the rewrite next week.

I feel better due to a regime of ozone therapy. I drink a half gallon of ozonated water every day and three times a week I’m injecting 25 to 35 cc’s of ozone gas directly into my blood stream. I expect to hold at 35 cc’s for another week and then advance to 50 cc’s each session until I finish in seven more weeks. For more information; http://www.ozoneuniversity.com/

I’m confident that two months from now my Doctor will pronounce me healed.

WILLFUL IGNORANCE

Refusing to learn new things or seek broader horizons appears in many forms at any age. This attitude is a weakness of character and in many cases is just plain stupid and dangerous. For ex-patriots, refusing to learn to use cell phones, computers, the internet and PDA devices is akin to forced isolation; especially here in Panama. Communication is extremely important. After my heart attack my brother, Bill and I video chat several times a week. That way he can see me and determine for himself if I’m okay. There’s a myriad of IP phone systems available and they are an inexpensive method to reach loved ones around the world. But – you have to be willing to embrace today’s technology.


The unwillingness to learn Spanish is another example of willful ignorance. I know a gringo that has lived in Panama for fifteen years yet refuses to learn the language; expecting others; bilinguals, to handle his affairs. He’s a joke in the community. If you live in a Latin country and don’t make an attempt to adapt to language and culture, it’s a major insult to your host country and you will be held in contempt for your willful ignorance!

Living abroad in a non-English speaking country without a Kindle or some other electronic reading device is also a form of willful ignorance. I’ve heard all the excuses: “I like the feel of a book.” “The written word needs to be on paper.” “How can one appreciate a book on a gizmo?” If you are guilty of remarks like those, shame on you! E-books are not just a passing notion or fad. This is a major paradigm shift in the book industry. Kazillions of trees are being saved! There are over a million books available to me on my Kindle. I can download over three thousand and hold them in the unit that weighs the same as my cell phone. The battery charge holds for three to four weeks and in a pinch, I can use the unit to check my e-mails or surf the web. I’m able to change the size of the font so in some cases I can read without my glasses. E-books are inexpensive. Most sell for less than a Starbuck’s latte and a lot of the older books are free. I can buy my books from anywhere; from a bohio on the beach, horseback in the mountains, or lying in my hammock.

Advancing years is not an excuse for willful ignorance. My mother learned to use a computer when she was in her eighties and stayed in touch with my brother and me by e-mail right up until a couple of years before she passed at age 99.

The world is changing and it’s changing rapidly. Welcome aboard but leave your willful ignorance behind.

Jack London once wrote … “a dead man controls the situation!”

Those words certainly ring true in today’s world.


The world is abuzz about the death of Osama Bin Laden. Pundits and politicians all have an opinion, the public in the US seems joyous, and the major newspapers have kept it “top of the fold”. Even the Internet news reporters keep spinning the story.

The story has displaced the news about the royal wedding, Charlie Sheen’s troubles and the Lindsay Lohan debacles. It even overshadows the NFL draft, and who’s wearing what on the red carpet. For that, I’m personally pleased.

Now it’s time for the books to be released. Unless they were written by members of the SEAL 6 team, they’ll probably be counterfeit…

I was sent all 4 manuscripts by the man himself; we’ll publish them in the following order.

I DIDN’T REALLY MEAN TO PISS YOU OFF by osama bin laden

OOPS! I JUST SHIT MY PANTS by osama bin laden

SWIMMING WITH THE FISHES by osama bin laden

SEVENTY TWO OF THE UGLIEST VIRGINS ON EARTH by osama bin laden

Now everyone who reads this blog will realize this is a joke…but it will be criticized. I don’t care!

Did you ever see a girl throw a baseball?

Writing styles are just as distinctive. They reflect the life of the writer; also their gender. That’s right. There are four distinctive styles I can determine by reading only three pages of a novel. Sometimes I can tell by just by looking at the cover. A great number of female writers disguise their gender by using only initials. JZ Knight is a good example. She is a very successful mystery writer from the Southwest and Seattle. But if a male reader didn’t know she was a girl, it would become obvious with a chapter or two. JA Konrath. Once you start one of his books, it’s obvious he’s a guy right away.


Guys seldom write about bedspreads, curtains, décor, and dust ruffles unless it’s germane to the story. Women writers normally do. (Shirley McClain in “Out on a Limb – gag me with a spoon!) Conversely, men will write a lot more details about tools, guns or car engines. For example; “…was driving a customized old pick-up with a 327 ci Chevy small block bored .40 over, balanced and blueprinted. Most women writers wouldn’t write that kind of description. They are hard pressed to check their oil!

Okay, that’s the first two styles…simple – guys and gals.

The other two take a while to spot. The done that myself, been there, and have the t-shirt. Then you have the research & fake-it with well turned phrases, style. The writers who research everything and seldom leave his/her word processor. I fall into the first category. I write from experience. Many best sellers are written by people who are excellent writers (can really turn a phrase) but know nothing firsthand about their subject matter. I read part of a best seller (#1 for 10 weeks on the NY Times list) a few years ago that was written by a professor from a university in New England. “……character X was suddenly afraid as the silence of the jungle night enveloped him like a cobweb.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Silence of a jungle night? Jungles aren’t quiet in the night! Screeching monkys, bats, owls, various chirping crickets that will drive you nuts, lizards, night birds, and much more. The closest this guy ever got to a jungle was a Tarzan movie! I pitched the book out the porthole of my boat. What a crock!

I was questioned by a reader one time about the scene in PARTNERS where the two cowboys take a bull that is caught in a tree trunk and sew his eyes closed. The reader thought that was farfetched. In reality, years earlier, my ranching neighbor and I were contracted by the Park Service to remove feral cattle from their mountain park near Tucson. We spent over a week in those badlands, trapping the cows and bulls by building a brush corral around a spring and placing a salt block nearby. We finally captured twenty head. We roped them – head and heels and sewed their eyelids closed. They could eat, drink and shit…the things cattle do. We eventually led them off the mountain only to be met by a firestorm of animal activists. To this day I take pot shots at those ignorant imbeciles.

That was the real life drama that produced the scene in PARTNERS

I fished commercially in Alaska – ALASKA BE DAMNED

I lived on Guam and went through typhoon Karen – THE LAST FRUIT STAND ON GUAM

I lived and worked in Mexico. – EXPAT

I’ve participated and have been associated with Rodeo for many years. -- CRYSTAL COWBOY

I’ve owned several ranches and made a decent living breaking and training horses. SCREENPLAY’S -- NO WAY!, UP NORTH, PARTNERS, and TRUST ME.

I lived in southern Arizona for some time so period western, BOOMER and the novel I currently writing, HALF-BREED are authentic as to locale.

I’ve lived in Panama for a long time. First in the Canal Zone with my folks and now as a retiree/writer. – SCREENPLAY’S, GAVIOTO’S GOLD & EMPTY KAYAK.

I guess the point of this exposition is to enlighten. My books and screenplays reflect my past. My style is to write tight and be a story teller. If it’s in the book it either happened to me, a close friend or I witnessesd it happening. Except for the romance – that’s all bullshit!

CRYSTAL COWBOY ONLY 99 CENTS

As many of you know, I have several books written and residing on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. They are for sale but not selling well. I recently donated three months of my royalties to a local charity and was ashamed of the results. Therefore I need to start promoting my work. I don’t think my books are horrible, just undiscovered. Remember the Daisy chain? I’ve chosen one novel and priced it so low it’s ridiculous. However, if I can move one novel to the top 1000 in the Amazon rating system, perhaps some of the others will follow. If you’re interested, it will cost you a bit of time and 99 cents.


Daisy chain Instructions:

This is a simple way to extend the purchase/readership of one of my eBooks. We are going to start a Daisy Chain. This Daisy Chain is not illegal or expensive.

I will gift you my eBook, Crystal Cowboy. The gift will come from Amazon.com. You do NOT need a kindle to accept this electronic file. Mac, PC, Android, any tablet and even a blackberry can accept this gift. Note: I said gift. All I ask is that you go to Amazon.com and gift it to someone else.



http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Robert+Hatting&x=14&y=22



The price of CRYSTAL COWBOY IS only 99 cents. Make certain recipients either have or can obtain an Amazon account – a debit or credit card is required.

The daisy chain needs to perpetuate itself to make this work. Please help if you can. You don’t even have to read the book. Just pass it on. You have the option of reading the book later. The secret of this program is timing; the sooner, the better.



Thanks for your efforts,

Robert Hatting

Price changes and promotions:

Starting next week, most of my novels will have a higher price. My books featuring my screenplays will be priced at .99 as will my novel Crystal Cowboy. I get a lot of advice from other writers; some successful and some not. Most agree that .99 for an 80,000 word novel is criminal. Most of my books encompass that many words or more. They are all bargains but the deal on the tray is TRILOGY; three full length movie scripts for ninety nine cents. (a series featuring the same characters) Crystal Cowboy is another deal. I’m leaving it at .99 in the hopes it will somehow reach the top 1000 in the Amazon Kindle rankings. Over the next weeks and months I’ll be experimenting with the marketing and promotional side of this business, as well as completing the two novels I have on my hard drive, HALF BREED and MURDER IN PANAMA.