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, December 11, 2013

Excerpt from Killer of Killers

In a continuation of excerpts from my debut novel, Killer of Killers, the Second Edition, I decided to post the very beginning of the book, the first part of the Prologue. I am aware that some people don't even read the prologues to books. That is strange to me. They have their reasons, one of which, I've read is that they don't want to start a book twice, and to me, that's ridiculous. The prologue IS the start of the book, and Chapter One is the continuation of that. Meaning Chapter One is not the real start of a book. Obviously the prologue is, like in a movie where it starts with what could be a prologue if it were a book, and then the story continues after that, not starts after that.

So anyway, here's how Killer of Killers starts:


Prologue 

JFK Airport 

It was a long time coming, but he made the decision, and Dr. Samuel 
Bernstein rushed through the terminal a different man. He wanted no more the 
role of absentee father and no more the bane of negligent husband. No more 
research facility half a continent away. Never again would he sweat ice in 
humid vaults of bubbling vats and sterile test tubes. And no more nightmares— 
the waking screams in halls of horror, the dire consequence of scientific 
arrogance, soul-chilling visions of a holocaust revisited. 

Never again. For Samuel, the sprawling biological laboratory in the 
Minnesota wilderness would forever be a memory. A bad one. He carried a 
black leather bag in one hand and pressed a cell phone against his ear with the 
other. Finally, an answer. “Samuel?” It was Martha, his wife. 

End of excerpt. And yeah, the story continues with Dr. Bernstein driving home with his wife, but what they find at home is not what they counted on, and enough about that. (Although the excerpt in the Melange Website does go a little further.) Still, it's a good start, and it's in Chapter One where the reader is introduced to the main character. Trent Smith. The world's greatest martial artist. Which, to me, is a character worth reading about. I think you'll agree, once you've read the book, that is.

Side note: The changes I made from the first edition to the second edition, here in the Prologue, are all about maintaining a consistent 3rd Person Limited POV. Which is quite significant to anyone who understands the specifics of that. And anyone who has read the two versions should see the difference immediately. And anyone who is reading this for the first time, well, even better, since it's the best and final version of the book, after all. And I'm very happy with it. Yes, very happy indeed. So my thanks to Nancy at Melange Books for her hard work in making it happen.

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