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 29, 2011

Don't Fear the Middle

I've read about so many writers and their loathing of the middle section of their book. And I've even heard about readers not liking the middle. As a reader and as a writer, I never experienced that. The middle has got to be there by its definition, but the complaint is that a story bogs down in that part of a book.

Well, it didn't in my first three books, but I am experiencing a slowing in my writing endeavor during my WIP, John Dunn. Not for lack of material or for lack of story. There are specific events that are true, and that I want to get in there, but I have a life of my own, and that's what has slowed me down at this point.

No, the story has not slowed down, as Cetshwayo has just been crowned king, Shepstone is acting on his plans to bring down Zululand and Dunn with it, and the Anglo-Zulu war is imminent.

If anything, the story is picking up. I just need to get back to full writing mode.
That's all.
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