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, November 2, 2011

How Much Action?

I'm trying to determine how many of the Anglo-Zulu War battles I should include in my story. The most famous ones are the Battle at Isandlwana and the Battle at Rorke's Drift. They're famous because both have been made into movies. One was ZULU DAWN, starring Burt Lancaster and Peter O'toole, and the other was ZULU, starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. They were both good movies, and I liked them when I saw them so many years ago.

But I realize now that neither one was completely true to history. I suppose had they been books, they would have been designated historical fiction. So that's all right. So is my WIP, John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu. You don't refer to them for historical facts. They were interesting because they were based on true history, but that's it.

It kind of reminds me of that HBO miniseries a while back called ROME. I really liked it. It was based on the real historical events surrounding Julius Caesar and others during that time period, but it contained an awful lot of things that just didn't happen. Thus, historical FICTION, to be sure. But entertaining, yes.

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