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.




Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Revisions still more Revisions

Can't say it enough. I said the last pass through THE VASE found some sentences in need of improving. But last night, I've found two major errors, and it gets me because I must have read this thing near fifty times, and I don't know why I never caught these errors before.

First one, I established in about the middle of the book that the IDF, (Israeli Defense Force) will be enforcing a curfew in Nazareth. Then in the very next chapter, there are protesters chanting through the night, right until morning. Now what happened to that curfew? OK, I fixed that one. Now they're protesting until curfew.

Second, there's a fourteen year old character who is running from "authorities" and climbs into a hiding place. (I don't want to give too much away here.) Anyway, he was carrying something, (again, don't want to give it away just what he was carrying,) but when he climbs to his hiding place, I made no mention how he climbs while holding his item, because if he was holding it in one hand as I wrote earlier, it would be impossible to do that climb.

So, now I fixed that. Which makes me ultra glad that I'm giving this ms another reading. Even my beta readers never caught those mistakes. But I will finish up by tonight or tomorrow, and I will send this improved version to the publisher who has my full ms in review. I know it's taboo, but the editor did say I could contact her at any time if I wanted to, and now I have a very good reason.

I know she meant if I wanted to inquire as to the status of my ms in their review process, but I'll tell her that I had to make some changes that improved the ms, and it is worthwhile to replace the first submission with this later one. Fortunately, they accepted electronic attachments, so it will be a snap to just send this latest one in.

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