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, March 10, 2011

Right Time in my Life to Write

Sometimes I wish I had started writing my novels at an earlier age. I see people in their twenties publishing novels and having success so it made me wonder what if…?

But then I realize that it would not have worked if I wrote to get published at an earlier age. But wouldn’t it have meant sooner success in regards to being a published author if I started sooner? Perhaps, but at what cost?

I have to look at it this way. Right now, I have accomplished all the important things that I need to accomplish in life. I have come to realize that all the decisions I made up to now have been the right decisions in order to do that. I’m talking about an education, a marriage, kids, and a career...

If I was writing novels, something would have suffered. Either the writing or those other things. Had I been holed up in a room writing all day and night, then no way would I have had the time to meet my wife, date her and marry her, and have the two sons I have. If I was spending 24/7 at a computer writing a novel, I would have missed the most important time in my kids' lives.

And I also needed to spend time learning the ropes of being a good teacher in a classroom full of students. After twenty years, I have that down. But if I was distracted by writing novels, I might not have become the teacher I am today. And it’s a career that is both rewarding and necessary to support my family.

So now I spend a lot of time writing. It’s true my wife thinks I spend too much time doing it, but it’s really nothing different than what she has known since she met me. In the beginning, I was doing art, then I was in the music phase. Now it’s writing, and as I said in an earlier post, it's even more complex and time consuming, thus the reason for today's post. But hey, I need to be creative. Just like all writers, and artists, and musicians.

That’s all.

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