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.




Thursday, September 30, 2010

Write What You Know

I talked yesterday about why I wrote KILLER OF KILLERS. One of the wise sayings about writing is to write what you know. Well, I know martial arts, since I trained in it, but, admittedly, that was years ago. I was about to reach the level of brown belt when I quit to pursue other interests. Still, I have a great resource in that my oldest son trains in Ju Jitsu and is a black belt. I have a great access to his dojo, and the senseis (teachers) and the shihan (master teacher) have been very cooperative in advising me throughout the writing process of the book.

When I finished, I was very proud of the book, but I hesitated to delve directly into a sequel, as the writing advisors also say to not write a sequel until the first book is published. But I wanted to get busy, so I decided to write what I know. That would be Ceramics...as in clay. I am a ceramic artist and a ceramics teacher. I had this idea for a story about ceramic vases for a long time, and I decided it was time to put it on paper. Thus, THE VASE was born. It's my second novel, and it's about a Ceramicist in Israel. It's more specifically about a particular vase, thus the title of the book. The complete manuscript is on submission right now. (Fingers crossed.) I won't mind if it gets published before KILLER OF KILLERS. I won't mind at all. (Fingers crossed on other hand, too.)

No comments:

Post a Comment