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, April 21, 2014

Author Page Up on Amazon.com

I've finally managed to make an author page on Amazon, and it wasn't even difficult. All you had to do was click on the Author page link, which I happened to see for the first time a couple days ago. Initially, I put up a photo, but then I remembered that other authors don't typically put in their photos on the Amazon Authors Page, so, in order to be more like them, I took the photo out.

Speaking of photos, I use four different photos for my social media. The one you see on this blog was cropped from a family outing at a beach some years ago. The photo on my Teacher's Website, which is the same one on the Melange-Books Author's Page, is another cropped photo from a day or weekend at some beach, and it's why I'm wearing sunglasses in both of those photos.

My Facebook photo is cropped from a photo that was taken while I was on a boat, or ferry, on the way to, (or maybe on the way back from) visiting the Alcatraz Island a couple years ago. So, again, it's why I"m wearing sunglasses.

But there is one where I'm not wearing sunglasses. It's the Goodreads author photo, (which I also use on Authors Den.) I'm not wearing sunglasses in that photo because the photo was taken at nighttime.  But it's still a photo taken at some beach somewhere. The reason they're all photos taken at beaches is not because I'm a beach bum, it's just that over here in California, there's a lot of coastline, and beaches are everywhere, as we travel up and down the California coast.

So who cares about photos anyway? Not me, personally, but I guess some readers might be curious as to what the author looks like. What really counts is the writing. The story. And the characters. And what happens with those characters. The premise of the story and the plot. And again, the writing. A great story can be ruined by lousy writing, and great writing doesn't guarantee a great story.

That's the bottom line when it comes to books. Hopefully you will find my stories, (and my writing,) agreeable to you and your tastes in books. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)