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.




Friday, December 9, 2011

Goal vs. Deadline

I had set a goal to finish my WIP by Thanksgiving. I might have achieved that goal if I hadn't had to do so much research, which means a lot of reading up on the events that took place during that time period in South Africa. Mainly the events leading up to and during the Anglo-Zulu War.

And I'm still not fully researched. I'm doing it as I go along. I've got the Battle at Isandlwana completely researched, and I've got that chapter finished now too. It's been like that the whole way. Now I'm researching the Battle at Gingindlovu, and it's especially pertinent, because Dunn had joined up with Chelmsford by then. He was the one who advised Chelmsford that the Zulus were nearby, after discovering their whereabouts by swimming up a river under a fallen tree. Pretty good stuff. And all historically accurate.

It makes me wonder if I had set a deadline instead of a goal, would I have been finished by now. Maybe a deadline would have made me buckle down more with more determination to finish. Maybe. But it would have gotten me in more trouble with the wife, that's for sure.

Anyway, my goal is the end of the year now. Hope I make that one.
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