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, October 15, 2012

Breaks Are Good

Time away from a manuscript can be a good thing. For example, I might spend a tremendous amount of time on a manuscript, reading, rereading, revising, etc, and think I corrected every error, every typo, every clunker, and such, but then I'll take that very important break, say for a week or so, and come back to it, and there's an error, or a typo, or a clunker staring me in the face.

It's like, how the heck did that get there? You're telling me that I read that manuscript over and over again, and never saw that? How the blazes did I miss that? But there it is. And there's another. How the heck did I not see that? I mean, I only read this thing a kazillion times.

Well, it happens. And it's because a writer can get too close to his/her story. Somehow that makes parts of it invisible. But when you take that break, it turns them visible again once you return to it. So yeah,  taking a break can actually improve your writing. It doesn't sound logical, but that's the reality!

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