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, April 17, 2013

Getting Better Every Day

The more you do something, the better you get. And with writing, it's even more true. But that is mostly the case when you're working with editors and publishers who are vested in your manuscripts. I got better from my experiences with Melange, and now I'm getting even better with my experiences with Penumbra. When I think about my experiences with my first two publishers, Virtual Tales and Cogito, I became a more experienced writer, but for some reason, those two publishers didn't have the same kind of editorial guidelines that Melange has. And Melange doesn't have the same kind of guidelines that Penumbra has. When it comes to POV, they do, but not as strict, and when it comes to verbiage, they don't. Penumbra is the most strict of them all, and far and away Penumbra has the highest standards when it comes to literary application. And I'm glad The Vase is being published by them. Everything happened for a reason, at least as far as The Vase is concerned. And now it's being published by the publisher who is making it the best literary work it can possibly be. I'm thankful for that.
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