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.




Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Volume 13 - Rockin' the Afterlife


Volume 13 - Rockin' the Afterlife wraps up my catalog of music. It's another concept album that didn't begin that way. It was just like Volume 12 in that I wrote all the songs independently of each other, but after the tenth song, when I sat down to write the lyrics, it became a concept album.

Song #1, Soul of Liberty is about life after death, but in the form of reincarnation. I do not necessarily believe in reincarnation. But the words were about that, so I went with it. And just like for the songs in Volume 12, each ensuing song became another song about that general theme.

It's a very controversial theme, I know, but it lasted right up to the final song on the album, Looking Back. Actually, both the music and the lyrics turned out to be very compelling. And just like for Volume 12, it's quite an adventure to sit and listen to this album, no matter how many times I have already. Sure there is mention of God, Heaven, Hell, different religions, and alternate realities. 

The bottom line is I don't care what anyone's religion is, or if they have or don't have one at all. But what is sure to come in everyone's life is death, as song #8 Sideways makes clear. And what happens at that point or after that point is basically what the lyrics are about. Come to think of it, the songs on this album explore that topic very deeply. 

So the playlist is as follows:

Soul of Liberty
Living in a Mirror
Not Your Show
Drum Beat
Time in the Sun
Kings Will Rise Up
Now You're There
Sideways
What Did You See
Looking Back

And Volume 13 in its entirety is already posted on SoundCloud. Just check the right margin of this blog. I had said I planned on posting all of my thirteen albums on there. And at this point volumes 8 through 13 are now up and running. (I just put Volume 8 on there this morning.) Just have to get 2 through 7 on there next, which I will in the very near future.

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