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.




Monday, April 9, 2012

A Week Off

So it's spring break and the week off of work should result in a lot of writing. Right? Maybe. I'm nearly finished with the third read-through of KILLER EYES, and did it need a lot of revising. And it got it. But it's far from done. I have said many times here that I had revised both KILLER OF KILLERS and THE VASE more times than I can count. THE VASE has been edited twice by pros, and I'm sure it will undergo another round of edits when it gets picked up again.

As for KILLER OF KILLERS, I am still waiting for Melange to get to editing it. I'm getting a little antsy about that. Since it's pegged for a release in August, I sure hope they'll get to it by June. OK, so that leaves a couple months. In the meantime, I read through it once, made some minor revisions, and sent it to Nancy, the publisher over at Melange. I labeled it KILLER OF KILLERS 1.0, and I don't want to do that again until my editor gives it his editorial read-through.

I suppose I can revise it again and label it KILLER OF KILLERS 1.1, and then send it yet again. But I don't want to flood them with three or more different versions of the same manuscript. It's not like I don't have anything else to do. I have plenty of other manuscripts to work on. If not KILLER EYES, then I can always go back to JOHN DUNN. Or even THE VASE. A writer's life is never an idle one, unless that writer takes a break from writing.

And if I do that I can spend time with the family. (And I have.) Because no writer should ever forget about his family. (If he wants to stay married, that is.) I think some writers out there have been so focused on their writing, and so preoccupied with getting their book published, they end up divorced. I'm glad that never happened to me. Maybe I just have a committed wife. Yeah, that's gotta be it. A committed wife. She never liked that I spent time writing, but she never wavered from our marriage. What a woman!

No comments:

Post a Comment