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.




Thursday, July 22, 2010

Kings Will Rise Up

The sixth of ten songs on Rockin' the Afterlife. Gettin' there.

As for Trent Smith...he's working out at Joe's Workhorse Gym right now, and just gave a free demonstration of his martial arts expertise at the expense of an overconfident braggart. Needless to say the braggart is no longer overconfident nor is he still a braggart. Joe's gym is in downtown Manhattan. (Originally it was in LA, but too much is coming down in the Big Apple, so Trent's got to stay put on the east coast.)

In my outline, I had him in California all this time, and I was at a crossroads to figure out why would he be zipping back and forth so many times in such a short span of time. My conclusion was to have him just be in New York and NOT be going back to California. But I had to rewrite all those LA scenes to take place in NY instead.

I also had to change an LA baseball team into a NY one. It makes more sense anyway, since the ballplayer on that team is supposed to be under the East Coast honcho's umbrella. That's why we got to be flexible. We're writers, after all. You understand. It's the greatest thing. We're literally world builders. We create characters...events...problems...solutions...we have all the power.
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