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, August 30, 2010

The Vase - Not so Done

Went back and began rereading my second novel, THE VASE. Just as I've said before, whenever I reread these manuscripts, I just can't seem to help making additional revisions. I've read about it on other writers' blogs, so I know it's not just me. At this point it's mostly just a word or two changed or rearranging a sentence - minor stuff. Certainly nothing major at this point. Since I've already sent it to the Library of Congress for a Copyright, I hope nothing major gets changed. I don't believe it will.

It happened with KILLER OF KILLERS. I finished it, revised it, and before I sent fulls to agents who requested it, I went ahead and copyrighted it. But then, as I explained in earlier posts, I ended up making some major revisions, and so I had to resend the changed version for another copyright.

As I understand it, you don't need to resend for another copyright if you make minor revisions, as I'm doing now for The Vase. But if you make some major changes, say, adding new chapters, for example, then you do need to resend it. That's what happened with KOK.

Of course, agents say you really don't need to copyright your material in the submission stage. They say no one is going to "steal" your ideas. But I think it's wiser to do it, anyway. It's easy, because you can do it online, it's cheap, about 30 bucks, and it takes the LOC about six months to finally get it done, but it's retroactive. Meaning the copyright is valid from the point they receive your material, not just when you get that certificate from them in the mail.

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