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, January 9, 2012

Contract Offered for KOK

Big day yesterday. That second publisher offered a contract for KILLER OF KILLERS, and it was a good contract. So I signed it, and emailed it back to them. So that's my third publishing contract now that I've signed. Fourth if you count the contract I signed with Literary Agent Anita Kushen.

But there is something I must say. Signing a contract doesn't mean a book will get published. I've chronicled on this blog the bumpy road that's called the path to being published.

My first contract with the agent resulted in nothing. Agent Anita called me, and told me how much she loved KOK. And I think she would have found a publisher for it, too, but she retired. I've already written about it, but the short version is that her subordinates took over KOK, and did nothing with it. At the most they submitted it to the Big Six, and left it at that.

Most disappointing with those agents was that they didn't want to represent THE VASE, even though it was a story with wider appeal. The "terrorist" angle scared them, and shortly thereafter we parted ways.

So I took over submissions for THE VASE on my own, and my first contract with a publisher, (Virtual Tales) might have been nice, but within two months of signing with them, they folded. So now some additional news which I haven't divulged yet. The second publisher I signed with for THE VASE, Cogito, also has failed. They are having problems of their own, but unlike VT, they haven't been forthcoming about it. I was notified by the acquisitions manager that she quit the company, and after my follow up, I found out that the Editor-in-Chief had also quit. Which left me hanging. So I invoked a clause in the contract to terminate that contract.

So THE VASE is once again available. But KOK is now under contract. It seems complicated, but whatever, you just ride with it and keep on plugging away. Let's see how this new contract goes. The publisher is Melange Books, LLC, and they seem to be well established, and so far so good, but it's only been one day. So goes the world of publishing!

2 comments:

  1. Man. I've been there and done it with you. I had a second publisher (after VT) go under on me also. I'm on my third and hopefully lucky pub. Good Luck.

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  2. And good luck to you, too, Ricky. I can't wait to read River Bottom Blues!

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