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, September 12, 2012

The Rock and the Hard Place?

I'm not sure that saying is applicable to my situation. I'm a Middle School teacher. And the kind of books for Middle School kids are MG books. I mean not even YA books are really appropriate. And I don't teach Literature over here, so I'm not all that familiar with too many MG books. I know of some. The Rats of Nimh is one, and I actually liked it. I taught sixth grade core for a while before I got my full  assignment of Exploratory classes, and that was the book we read for Literature class.

The YA books I know are the ones that were made into movies. And the thing is, I am stumped as to how they became popular. Take the super hit Harry Potter, for example. A boy wizard in wizard school? Where is the appeal? And Twilight? A vampire forever attending high school classes? I don't get it. And then there's Hunger Games. A teenage killing game? That one's over my head, too.

Regardless, they all became hits, and kudos to the authors. They achieved the ultimate in having their books made into movies. What could be better than that?

But I can't even really promote my book, Killer of Killers. Not where I work. Because it's not for kids. The few people I've told about it, I had to be sure to tell them it's not for kids. They can't believe it. They act surprised. It's like they're thinking that I'm out of line being a teacher writing books that are not for kids. So should I promote it or not? Well, I guess I should, just not here. That's all.

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