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, August 18, 2010

Looking Back

How appropriate that the final song to my 13th volume of music I wrote years ago is called Looking Back. It's because I am so very near completion of my first draft to my third novel. I could stay up late and finish it now, but I don't dare. I have got to get to bed now, and stop this bad habit of writing all night.

But when you have two sons, aged 14 and 8, who demand your supervision lest they tear up the house, and a wife who you've been married to for 21 years, you find you get the most done when everyone else is asleep.

I can finish the first draft tomorrow. In the meantime, Looking Back does tell a little about my vision of a life lived, and a death that is inevitable.
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1 comment:

  1. Terry StonecropAugust 18, 2010 at 3:25 PM

    Finding quiet time to write can be difficult. Looking Back sounds good:)

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