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.




Friday, March 20, 2015

Waiting for Responses

...from agents, and while I am, I'll just continue to polish the manuscript. And when I get a request for a full, that ms will be ready to send. Just hope the agent that signs me will not want to change too much. That will probably happen with a publisher, though. And if it's a Big Six publisher, then that will be okay. Even if it's not a big publisher it's okay. Just hope that whoever it is who publishes it will be able to get the book into a bookstore. That means I'm looking beyond POD publishers. That's the only knock on them. They don't get their books into bookstores.

Still I'm glad that Killer of Killers, Killer Eyes and The Vase are published. Even if it's by POD publishers. I'd rather they were in bookstores, but I couldn't make that happen. They're getting read at least, and that's the bottom line.

But it's time for me to make the next step. Meaning get my books into book stores. Meaning find a publisher who can do that. Meaning not a POD publisher. Meaning find an agent who can sell the book to a publisher who sells their books to bookstores. That's a tall order. It may never happen. The authors who make that happen write MG/YA books. Or women's fiction, like Romance or Chick Lit. Stuff like that. I may write a MB/YA book. Maybe Second Chance could qualify. Or the book I have on the back burner-called Inside the Outhouse. But that one's still a ways off. We'll see.

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