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, December 10, 2012

The Vase Will Be Published

Yes, The Vase will be published. But even now, I'm not sure by whom. The publisher with whom I've been in contact is waiting on my revised manuscript. They all but promised a contract when they receive it. And this other publisher? Well, I advised them that I was still interested in them, because The Vase is still available, but I also said I wanted to be up front, that I was rewriting the manuscript for another publisher, and was nearly done.

And I am nearly done. I put a lot of work into it this past week, and I'd say by this week I will be done. Then what? Well, I'll send it to the publisher for whom I reworked it. And what of the other publisher? Well, it depends. The questions I  posed last week will be pertinent. Which one is the more established publisher, and the contract terms, certainly, will be a factor.

The bottom line is that The Vase will be published, and a contract should be signed this month. Which means that it could be out as soon as this coming summer. But that all remains to be seen. The good thing is that it is all coming together. Even the rewrites. They are working. And The Vase is better than ever. But for which publisher? That is the question.

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