Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Friday, August 13, 2010

What Did You See?

The ninth song from Rockin' the Afterlife is up now. Had a lot more trouble picking a picture for this one. I choose random photos from the internet. (With the exception being Kings Will Rise Up, which I used a medieval painting.) But I wanted a picture of someone asleep, and I wanted it to look like they were dreaming, and at the same time portraying them as seeing what they were dreaming in a cognitive manner.

Normally, I don't want to put up another artist's painting or drawing, because that would be like a writer putting up someone else's writing to make their point. Even if they credit the other writer, I think a writer should use their own work, thus, if I would use a painting other than one of my own, I would only use one from the old masters. (Or one like the medieval painting.)

I was going to use Giorgione's painting of the Sleeping Venus, because the first three lines of the song, "When you laid down, you had a dream, you closed your eyes..." seemed to fit the painting. But after I pasted it in there, it looked like she was playing with herself, so I decided against it. (Didn't know they were that risqué in the 1500s!)

I ended up finding some new age work, and it seemed to fit what the words of the song were saying, so whoever did that visual, which I don't even know who it is, I hope you don't mind.

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