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.




Friday, March 9, 2012

KILLER OF KILLERS, a Martial Arts Thriller


I can't say enough how excited I am that my debut novel, KILLER OF KILLERS is being published. This August can't come soon enough for me. And talking about it gives me another opportunity to post this great cover. Kudos to Caroline at Melange Books for coming up with it. For a long time I wondered just what the cover to that book would look like.

For a time I thought it might be a fight scene featuring Trent Smith doing some fancy martial arts move on some bad guy. I even considered doing the artwork myself. I dabbled at some sketches to see if I could come up with something.

But then I decided that since Trent was a killer of killers, I might use the symbol of death in the cover, which is a skull or skeleton, instead of a figurative design. So I googled skulls and skeletons. I considered using an image of the Grim Reaper.

I found that first design, the one with the skull and silhouetted skyline, and thought it worked. But then I learned the pixel thing wasn't high def enough, and that's when Caroline took over. Using the same idea, she came up with a design that's way better. So here it is again. I love it.

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