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.




Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Work Hard

Well I'm still super-charged about the cover to my debut novel, KILLER OF KILLERS being so great. Cut me a break on this one. I mean for your first novel that's getting published and the publisher hits a home run on the cover design is... well, it's a dream come true. I can't say enough about it. But I said that I would talk about how Trent Smith got so good at martial arts. And there's a good reason that he's so good. He worked hard!

No, I don't go for these notions that you are born great. No. You work at it. You work hard. You don't quit. You make sacrifices. You put in the time. And for over twenty years, Trent Smith worked hard and made himself the best martial artist in the world. He lived it. He became a part of the Tokyo Dojo. Or he made the Tokyo Dojo a part of him. Twenty-four seven as they say.

It helped that the Dojo's Shihan had a beautiful granddaughter. And it was also a good thing that she was attracted to Trent. Oh, by the way, the Japanese didn't call him Trent. As I said before, (I think I said this before,) Trent Smith is not his real name. Anyway, Trent has green eyes. And besides that, they compared his fighting style to that of a tiger. So with that, and his green eyes, the Shihan nicknamed him Tora. Which is Japanese for tiger.

So yeah, he lived in the dojo. He loved in the dojo, He life was the dojo. Until the murders started happening in America. Then his life changed. And back to America he went. Stay tuned.

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