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, November 17, 2011

Don't Royalties Make a Difference?

When I've talked with other writers who are published, it seems that they don't mind having such a low percentage of royalties. Almost always, it's ten percent. But when you think about it, a ten percent royalty is laughable.

But that's what most of the publishers give their authors. One of the reasons I signed with Virtual Tales is they gave a whopping 50% royalty to their authors. Maybe that's why they went out of business. But two of the original owners have started up their own publishing companies, and they are offering whopping percentages, too.

Makes me think. Cogito, (which is the company that currently holds my contract,) is of the ten percent variety. But I signed with them because they were well established and successful. And they get their books into book stores. That's how the people at Absolute Write Water Cooler respond when asked about a publisher. They ask, "Are their books in bookstores?"

Well, one of the first things I did was I went to Barnes and Nobles, and sure enough, I found a half dozen of their books on the shelves. That was a major factor for signing with them. But royalties and bookstores are not the whole of it. There are other factors that make a good publisher, too. Let's see how that works out.

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