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, October 3, 2011

Are They Snobs?

I read a lot of writer's blogs, and there are some different categories of them. There are the blogs by writers who aspire to get published, and blog their journey to publication. This blog, THE VASE, is one of those. I was a writer aspiring to get published and this blog chronicled that journey, which is still mid-journey, by the way.

Then there are the blogs of writers who are already published. Some are self-published, and some are published by independent publishers, (of which I hope to enter into that category very soon, having signed a contract with CogitoMedias, an independent publisher in Canada.)

And then there are the blogs of those who are published by what is referred to as mainstream publishers, or one of the "Big Six" publishing houses in the United States. Some of these blogs, to me, have an air of snobbery about them. What I mean is they seem to have an attitude that says, "Well, I've made it and you haven't." It's as if only those writers who have been published by a mainstream publisher are writers who are truly successful, and the rest of us just don't measure up. Otherwise, we'd be published by a Big Six publisher, too.

No, not every single one of them. But I have been put off by a lot of them, and I don't read their blogs anymore. It's also true that I have come to dislike some of these "agent" blogs. Some I still read for the information. But the personalities that they convey, to me, just irk me. And I don't think it's just me feeling that way.

Whatever. It's not like I'm friends with any of them. I guess that's the beauty of blogging and reading blogs. You learn about people. Just like in the real world. Some you like. Some you don't. That's all.
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