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.




Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanks to All-and POV-again-this time The Vase

Okay, so it's Thanksgiving, and I'm sure everyone has something for which they can be thankful. I do. But I won't bore anyone who might be reading this with a list of everything I'm thankful for, nor would I want to read anyone else's list.

But when it comes to writing, all authors can be thankful that they made their work into a publishable manuscript, and I'm among those who managed to get that far. Killer of Killers is published, it seems to be selling pretty well, and I am currently working on making The Vase into a publishable manuscript.

One of the problems in The Vase is that I had written the first chapter in Muhsin Muhabi's POV, but he doesn't see the first incident of the images projected from his vase. Still, I had to describe the images so that the reader is in the loop. But if Muhsin doesn't see them, how can I describe those images? That was the issue the editor at this other publishing house had with the writing at this point. He says I have to permit Muhsin a glance of the images, and that is the only way I can then describe them.

But, again, Muhsin is NOT SUPPOSED TO SEE THOSE IMAGES. It's integral to the storyline that he doesn't see them. Not until near the end of the book does he see them. And that was my quandary. My solution? I have rewritten the first chapter from his son's POV. It's Naji Muhabi's POV, now, that the story begins with and since Naji is seeing the projection, it's okay now for the images to be described for the reader.

Hopefully, the editor will aprove of this rewrite, and I can proceed to rewrite the rest of the book in a like manner. We'll see.

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