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, August 1, 2012

ARC due any day

There is just no way to get around this waiting thing when it comes to publishing. First you have to wait for an agent to get back to you. Then you have to wait for your agent to do his or her job, which means more waiting. If you forego the agent and submit to publishers on your own, then you still have to wait for your submissions to get answered. Sometimes that takes a very long time.

And then when you finally land a publisher, there is still more waiting. You have to wait on the editor, and then wait on the editor again. Then you have to wait on the final wait of all the waits. The ARC. And that final wait is the wait on which I'm waiting.

It kind of sounds funny by this time. But once that last wait is done, I should see my book in print. But first I have to proof that ARC, and that's the wait that's killing me now. It should be here any day now. Maybe today. Nancy, the owner of Melange puts out a lot of books. About six to twelve a month it seems. Some publishers put out that many in an entire year. So going by that, she publishes a lot of books. Which means she's a very busy lady. She must be preparing a lot of ARCs.

So I can understand. I'm only one author. There's at least a half dozen other authors waiting for their ARCs right now, too. But keeping that in mind only makes it understandable, not easier. So who said the business of publishing was easy or fast? Well, self publishers can say it, I suppose. But I say that self publishing, with a few exceptions, is for those writers who can't find a publisher. Anyone can self-publish. Anyone. Even the worst writers in the world.

I don't and never wanted that stigma over my head. So it's back to waiting then. And that's what I'm doing. Tick, tick, tick...

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