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.




Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Hits on Blog Spiked

I noticed that hits on the blog spiked over the weekend, and I'm wondering if the posting of the 15% discount was responsible for that. I posted that on Saturday, and I usually don't post on the weekend. I did this time because my publisher was offering that discount for Mother's Day, so I went ahead and passed that on to any readers of the blog.

But I'm also wondering if it translated into any additional purchases of Killer of Killers. I won't find out until the quarterly data is released. Up until now the sales have been modest, so it will be interesting to see if that discount did result in any sales.

And if it did, then I would hope that discounts would be more frequent. The money isn't really big for authors, btw. The publisher gets the bulk of that. My ten per cent is next to nothing when it comes to cashing in. It's the sales number that might attract Hollywood, and that's where the big money is. But Hollywood won't come calling for a book with modest sales.

Not that a book has to be a bestseller. But it does have to have a following, and books like Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter had huge followings before they became movies. Even Fifty Shades of Grey does, and now it's going to be a movie, too. Those authors are financially secure now. How nice that would be.

No comments:

Post a Comment