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.




Monday, March 21, 2016

Walking Dead - Where are Rick and Michonne?

It's been three episodes since Walking Dead fans were treated with the start of a romance between Rick and Michonne. I was one of those fans, because, to me, it was a great story development. I actually want Rick and Michonne to be together romantically, and I was glad to see it begin finally in the series' sixth season. But ever since then, well, three episodes later, anyway, there has been no further progress in that relationship. Maybe I'm being impatient. It could be rationally explained that in this dangerous world there's no time for heavy duty romance.

Or it could be rationally explained that, like in last night's episode, there are other characters to follow. Like Darryl, Denise, Rosita, Abraham, and Eugene. In last night's episode, we only got a glimpse of Rick, and Michonne was never seen. Okay, like I pointed out, there are other characters to follow, and the above named characters were out and about in this episode.

Two meek and mild characters, Eugene and Denise, who have not been the fighters the other characters are, seemed eager to prove their worth in the fighting department. At least insofar as fighting off "walkers" is concerned. Eugene failed miserably in his attempt to kill a walker, and reacted with great resentment when Abraham came to his rescue. Denise, after a huge struggle, managed to kill her first walker, but her ascension to the status of "walker killer" was short-lived because she was shot from behind by another group of bad guys. It was a very unique scene, I must say. A very well acted and well written scene.

But that doesn' t mean the writing is all good. Once again, we see Carol still smarting from her newfound "humanity." She was one of the better characters who had come to grips with the need to kill bad guys. As I posted the other day, Carol has regressed to the "I don't want to kill anyone, anymore, not even those bad guys who want to slit our throats" type of person. And to me, those types of characters are sickening. What's more sickening is that Carol was not like that.

I'm for character growth, of course, but I'm not for character regression. But since I've already posted about that, I'll stop right now. I want to see Rick and Michonne again, acting like the team they've become. At least we saw a hint of that a couple episodes ago, when Rick was sucker punched by some chick, (yeah, a chick,) and then Michonne hustled over and knocked the chick down. But that was too little for me. I want to see more of that and more intense versions of that.

Yeah. Rick and Michonne. That has the makings of one of television's greatest partnerships. I hope they develop it into just that. Here's hoping in happens.

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