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, June 14, 2016

Three Possible Covers for Second Chance

Even though the cover design will ultimately be the publisher's responsibility, it's kind of fun looking over stock photos of possible cover designs. Especially since it's my own book. And football is one of my favorite things, after all, so there's that element to this, too.









 I still like this photo with the standing dude in the football uniform. I've posted it a few times before.

 I like the pose, I like the uniform, but the color should be changed to dark green and the number to twenty-four.










I like this one too. It's the same dude from the other photo with the lights behind him. But here the jersey is red. So you can see the colors can be changed, apparently with no problem.

Since there's no number visible, this might be the one to go with. I like the pose, I like the football in his hands, and I like the black background. Still, I like the one with the lights behind him too.

I'd be happy with either one.











Now this is an interesting one. Again, the jersey number and color would have to be changed. The reason it's interesting to me is because the theme of the story is present in this cover.

The guy has his back to the viewer. His head is lowered. You don't see anything else. And with all that space on top, you have room for text, like a title and author name, and whatever else the publisher might want to put in there.

As for the story's theme? Well, it ended up being something the main character wasn't too happy about. It was an event, or series of events that led to his downfall.

But nobody dies. And there's no violence. At least no violence that takes place off the football field. There is a lot of football action, much of which could be considered violent.




But is it a book kids could read? Profanity might be a problem with kids reading it. But some kids cuss as much as any football player. So it might not really be a problem.

Would I want my own kids to read it? Sure. But, my kids are over thirteen. So I would say readers of this book should be a 7th grader at least. I suppose that makes it a PG rated story.

So which cover do I prefer? Right now I'm thinking to choose door number two.
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)