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.




Wednesday, May 23, 2012

New Book or Keep Revising?

Since I'm a teacher, I have the summer vacation every year which is a great time to begin a new book. This will be my fifth summer vacation since I started doing that. So I should be starting my fifth book.

But I expect the edits for KILLER OF KILLERS to arrive any day. Of course that will get my priority. And then there are the further revisions which are in order for my third and fourth books, KILLER EYES and JOHN DUNN.

I expect to sell my second book, THE VASE any day now. And when I do, I will certainly give that one priority, too, when it gets edited. (Although it's already been edited twice, but that's another story.)

So I have blogged before that I was of the mind to just concentrate on revisions and editing of the books I've already written, and I may well do that.

But time flies. And boy does it ever. My family and I watched some home videos of my sons when they were babies. And wow it reminded us how fast the last ten and fifteen years have passed. My oldest son will be sixteen this Sunday. He's as big as I am now. A far cry from the little baby I was holding in those videos.

And that's why I'm thinking I should stick to my plan of writing a new book every summer. Because as those videos pointed out, those months will not be able to be called back. Once they're gone, they're gone, and over the last four summers, at least, I have four books to show for them.

Maybe it's time to get started on that fifth one. But I haven't decided on just what book to write. I think it should be the third installment of Trent Smith's story. After all, I started with his debut. Then I strayed from the Trent Smith story and wrote THE VASE. Then I went back to it and wrote KILLER EYES. Then I strayed again and wrote JOHN DUNN.

So if I keep that pattern, it's time for Trent Smith again. Yes. It is. OK.

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