When I posted my mini-review of David L. Hatton‘s new novel Muse: Naked Truth Poses Again last month, I had no idea that I would soon meet the man himself in person. As I mentioned in that mini-review, he and I had corresponded sporadically on the web over the years, but until I read the bio on the back cover of his new book, I had no idea where he lived. That location turned out to be Sacramento, CA. I had just delivered a fifth wheel to an RV dealership in Sacramento less than a month before I received my copy of Muse.
During that early December trip, I had endured a delay in Laramie, WY due to high winds on Interstate 80 through at least half of Wyoming. With fifth-wheels being a high-profile low-weight vehicle, I just could not risk trying to take it through those winds. After sitting around Laramie for over ten extra hours, the winds finally shifted and died down, and I continued on my way. I delivered that fifth-wheel and drove the long trek home from there. Because of the nature of the winters in Wyoming and not wanting to take a multi-hundred mile detour pulling a diesel-consuming trailer, I had resolved not to try another west coast run until spring. So a meeting with David Hatton was not on my radar for the immediate future.
The transport company I contract with has been trying to get a number of trailers to that dealership in Sacramento. They had been pushing those trailers to us drivers so hard that I checked the weather forecast for the route out there and discovered a window of decent weather that would last long enough for me to get up to Indiana, get one of those trailers, and get it out to Sacramento. So that’s what I did. Once I got to Sacramento, David seemed almost as eager to meet me as I was to meet him. We met at a restaurant next to the hotel I where I was spending the night. I still had the trailer hooked up to my truck, so I couldn’t just go anywhere until I delivered it the following morning. We had a very tasty meal and shared some great conversation. I gave him a signed copy of Life Models, and he gave me signed copies of three of his books including an extra copy of Muse: Naked Truth Poses Again. It is both a blessing and a benefit of this RV hauling job that I got to meet the man behind the books and the emails. I hope we are able to get together again on my next trip to California.
D.H. Jonathan 
That’s so cool (and rare) to meet a fellow author you admire. Glad you were able to meet!
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Our meeting also let us know how to pray for each other, and you are on my weekly prayer cycle now, Dan. Blessings!
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God is so cool like that 🤩, arranging divine appointments! 🙌🏼✝️💖
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Dan,
I found your stack of books interesting. Of particular interest to me was “Horseman Pass By” by Larry McMurtrey. I don’t know if this book in your introduction to Larry McMurtrey, or if you have read some of his other books, too. I read this book after seeing the movie “Hud” starring Paul Newman in the middle sixties. I’m pretty sure Paul Newman’s coolness was what drew me to the movie, but what really stood out was the location photography and the use of locals in the film. It really seemed like Texas.
After seeing the movie, I read “Horseman Pass By”, and began looking forward to Larry McMurtrey’s new novels. What impressed me about his writing was that his ability to write about things we all think about, but don’t discuss with other people.
If you aren’t familiar with it, you should read (and see the film), The Last Picture Show. The film also was made on location in black- and-white.
Heart surgery in his middle-fifties left him depressed, and stopped his writing for a while. He finally started writing again and managed to write his “big” novel, “Lonesome Dove”. There were times as he got older I could tell his publishers were pushing him to hurry and get a new novel out, and the results did show. He’d alternate between a good novels and quickly written novels.
Larry McMurtrey’s novels provided me with a lot of reading pleasure for many years.
Larry McMurtrey passed away in the spring of 2021.
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I’ve read several of McMurtry’s books including the four Lonesome Dove books and the five Duane books (which starts with The Last Picture Show). In 2016, my son and I went to Larry McMurtry’s book store in Archer City, TX, but sadly he was not there that day. I saw the movie HUD way back in the 1980s and thought it was really good, but I had never read Horseman, Pass By until this year. I have a copy of Leaving Cheyenne on my to be read stack now.
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