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, May 2, 2013

POV can be tricky

So even after going over the manuscript of KOK with a resolve to perfect all POVs, I still find myself fixing parts that I had thought were acceptable. I was almost half way through the manuscript, but last night I decided to start from the beginning, and sure enough, right there in chapter one I found POV issues that were still there. Just to reiterate, I'm applying the lessons I learned from my experiences with Penumbra. Specifically, very strict guidelines about third person limited POV, dialogue tags, and character descriptions. It's all about getting your writing to a higher level of literary standards. And who wouldn't want that? It makes you a better writer and it makes your writing a lot better. So you keep at it, and at it and at it. Like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get. I learned that a long time ago.

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