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.




Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Settings

I mentioned historical settings yesterday, obviously because that’s exactly what my next project will be featuring. It’s a nineteenth century story set in Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of the story will take place in the Kraals of the Zulus, and right now I’m submersing myself in books, DVDs, and online sites that have to do with anything Zulu.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, a Kraal is like a small village of a native African tribe. It’s a circular formation of hive-shaped huts made from tree saplings and grass thatching with floors of clay and cow dung, and in its center is the cattle pen, which is the livelihood of the tribe.

But there will be other settings as well, like battlefields in the open plains, and when this story is done, it will feature, not only the friendship between John Dunn and the Zulu King Cetshwayo, but it will also involve a very large conflict with Dunn’s white wife centered around her disapproval of his 48 Zulu wives. Yes, I think this will be a very intriguing story indeed.

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