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, June 24, 2014

Killer Eyes--Can't Wait to Finish

Working on Killer Eyes has proven to be very enjoyable. I'm referring to the revisions stage I'm on at the moment. For a long time, I wasn't sure how well that would turn out. I knew that there were plenty of holes to fill, and I thought it would take a lot of work.

Well, it did, but that word "work" is relative. It was a lot of fun, and it still is. I've always thought that the revisions stage was the most enjoyable stage anyway. At least it was for KOK and The Vase. But it's turning out to be true for Killer Eyes, also. I guess another thing that made me wary was fixing all the POV stuff. Making sure that all of the third person limited POV was consistent.

Nowadays it seems people are obsessed with not having any head-hopping in a story line, and I'm making darn sure none of my books do. If there is, it's a typo. I found one in the one book I would figure wouldn't have any. The Vase. And that's the book with the editor who made it a big deal to NOT have any. But there it was. Only one. It got by us both, I guess. Because it was sneaky. And I only caught it the THIRD time I read the book after publication.

As for Killer of Killers. I dare say there are no POV errors. None. Zip. No head-hopping whatsoever. That is, KOK the second edition, I mean. I put out the second edition to correct all of that, and I did. Very nicely, too. And it's all fixed in Killer Eyes, as well.

Next, the John Dunn story. That will be a bigger chore. It's a longer book. 120,000 words. My other three novels clock in at about 90,000 words. That's an average. But an accurate one. I have three books on the back burner. The third installment of KOK I may call The Killers Guild, the new book I've already started, called Second Chance, and the YA book I've talked about called Inside the Outhouse.

But first and foremost, I can't wait to finish Killer Eyes, because I'm loving it more and more every time. The future looks bright.

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