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, April 14, 2011

THE VASE - It's real - or is it?

You know I’ve spent so much time on THE VASE the last couple of months, I’ve found myself feeling like I’m actually living in it. It’s because THE VASE is such a tremendous story. I mean where else but the Middle East are you going to find the world’s longest conflict? And where else are you going to find the most controversy? Here's a struggle that has been going on for some three thousand years! Maybe even longer than that!

And people seem to take one side or the other. So what side am I on? I’m on the side for peace. If you read THE VASE, and I hope you do when it’s published, you will see exactly what I mean. I don’t pretend to know more about peace than all the politicians who have worked so hard to achieve it. I don’t pretend to have any answers. But what I do have is a great story that shows different points of view.

Different points of view, you may ask? Well look at the text below the header to my blog! There are four or five people mentioned there, but there are a lot more characters and points of view than just the ones listed there in THE VASE.

The main character of THE VASE is a Palestinian Muslim. As you can see in the text, he is a simple merchant in Nazareth’s Old City Market. Although he is a Palestinian Muslim, he doesn’t care about the fighting or the fundamentalist beliefs. All he wants to do is survive and sell his ceramic products. But the conflict won’t leave him alone. It affects him, his wife, his sons, and turns his life into a mess.

There’s the Jewish Art Professor, his wife and his own son. There’s the Captain in the IDF. There’s the Mossad director and his pretty assistant. There’s a Lebanese restaurant owner. And there’s an American showman from Hollywood who doesn’t even get involved. All he wants to do is hunt ghosts because he’s a ghost hunter. But are they really ghosts, or are they something else? Let me put it to you this way: Are they just holograms or is there something else? OK, that's enough, are there ghosts or not? Well, you gotta read it for yourself, cuz I sure ain’t gonna tell ya.
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