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.




Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Community of Writers

As part of the Virtual Tales publishing experience, I was invited to join the Virtual Tales Contributors Group, which is sort of like a fraternity of authors, all of whom are published by Virtual Tales. It's really an exclusive membership, because if you are not contracted by Virtual Tales, as I understand it, you are not able to join.

Anyway, it's like a forum kind of setup, just like you have on the Absolute Write Water Cooler, which, btw, is one of the most helpful forums I have ever used. I've talked about it before, and I hope any author seeking representation or publication refers to it.

Now the Virtual Tales Contributors Group will be my source of information and advice, but I will still be dropping in on the Absolute Write Water Cooler now and then. It's the one site where anyone can go and feel like a writer, even if you're not published. Heck, you can go on there and feel like a writer, even if you never wrote anything. That's how great that site is.

As for the Virtual Tales Contributors Group, it's something that helps you along as a first time published author, like me, without feeling like an outsider. It's cool, especially since I've already made a connection with another author. Interestingly, it was from Absolute Write that we first made contact. Yes, authors really are some of the most helpful and honorable people with whom I have ever had the pleasure to know. Not once have any writers reduced themselves to petty behavior, in my experience. I think it's because we don't compete with each other. That's a great point.

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