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.




Sunday, March 3, 2019

Carl Deuker's Gym Candy - Good Book

Gym Candy 
After reading John Coy's Crackback, I read Carl Deuker's Gym Candy. And it's another good book worth reading. Like Crackback, it targets teenage boys, or high school boys, and especially those boys who play football. It really has an important message: stay away from steroids.

It's a message I hope all boys listen to, and not just football players. I know guys who lift weights to stay in shape, but they want to do more than just stay in shape. They want to build up their bodies. So they take steroids. You see, the human body can get only so big no matter how much you lift. But some men, (and I've known some personally) want to get more than just big. They want to get huge. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger huge. Or Dwayne Johnson huge. And the only way anyone can get that huge is from taking steroids. So they do it. And then they get huge and they are happy.



Crackback

But, to me, it's not worth the risks. Those risks are depicted in Deuker's Gym Candy. And those risks do include life threatening risks. I remember seeing Lyle Alzado's video after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He admitted to being on steroids for most of his professional football career. Yeah it made him huge. And it made him ultra aggressive. And I suppose it made him a great football player. But he was dead before he reached fifty years old. I am glad I never used steroids. Because I am well over fifty now, and still healthy. And by the way, I still lift, and I'm pretty big for it. But I'm not huge and I don't need to be. I'll take normal big over the abnormal huge any day if that means I get to live longer than forty-eight years.


So yeah, having a great story is great for a book, but having a great message is also great, and that is the case with Carl Deuker's Gym Candy.


Second Chance
1st publication's cover

And btw, Gym Candy features a running back as the main character. Like you would think it would. Coy's Crackback and my football book, Second Chance feature a defensive back as the main character. So that was interesting to me. Bottom line is this: Crackback and Gym Candy are great books. And not just for MG/YA audiences. For all audiences, like Second Chance. Here's to hoping Second Chance gets a second chance at publication.

Fingers crossed.

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