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 27, 2014

Killer Eyes--Revisions Completed!

I've been mentioning the problems in the story line in Killer Eyes--the events that were not consistent, the character actions that were questionable, and I've been saying how I wanted to fix them. Well, I got it done over the three day Memorial Weekend Holiday. That's not to say I'm submitting it any time soon. No. I've learned over and over again not to be quick on the trigger. I'm giving it at least one more read through. Already I've found some typos and errors, including one set of about four or five consecutive words that somehow got changed to 11 point font from the 12 point font in which the manuscript is written.

How that happened? Who knows. It's the first time I've seen it. No, actually, I have seen it before. Nevertheless, it just goes to show that there is no minimum or maximum number of times you can proofread your manuscript. No matter how many times you do it, there's always going to be something you'll find that needs correcting or improving.

But the big news here is that the subplot and supporting character action I was worried about has finally been fixed. When you have a character doing something, there should be a reason why he/she is doing it. And when that character does something else in the climax, it better not conflict with what he/she was doing throughout the story line. That's what was troubling me for the past couple of months, and finally, that's what I fixed.

It took some rewriting, but that's what I'm celebrating now, that rewriting got done, and I'm calling the story complete. So after this read-through/proof reading, and one more after, THAT'S when I'll submit. And my Killer of Killers book on the Melange Books website will finally have its sequel.

Then, on with the John Dunn revisions, and hopefully the writing of my new book, Second Chance. And I haven't forgotten the third book in the Killer Series. And I still have every intention of writing my MG/YA novel, also.

So here's what's in queue: Revising the fourth book I've already written--John Dunn, and then three more books to write from scratch-- the third Killer book, tentatively titled The Killers Guild, and then my new story, tentatively titled Second Chance, and the YA book which I'm pretty sure will be titled Inside the Outhouse.

After all of that, maybe I'll get back to the Sci-Fi book I began years ago as a graphic novel. Now that will be interesting. Maybe I'll keep it as a graphic novel. We'll see.

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