HIGH HEART: A Lucid Tale of Love and Discovery

John Selby's life has strongly inspired the plot and characters of High Heart. John's in-depth biographical exposé clarifies the overlapping links between the author's life experience and High Heart's themes, plots and characters. Plus – more info at www.johnselby.com.

Jack catches Mahalena cleverly stealing an ancient Mayan ceremonial carving – and gets swept off into her dangerous but enticing struggle to block her brother's psych-tech mind-manipulation plot.

Jack and Mahalena, feeling mysteriously entangled, barely escape her brother Bernardo's attack to gain the jade phallus for nefarious shaman/scientist employment.

Taking off south on their fast-moving odyssey, Mahalena and Jack struggle to merge Jack's quantum worldview with Mahee's deeper revolutionary intent.

Jack is challenged by Mahee's grandfather – then tries to be utterly honest as they open up to risky realms of intimacy new to both of them.

Driving on his own down through western Mexico, Jack encounters a remarkable young man, and then helps Mahalena who is in terrible condition after her Mexico City fiasco.

Recovering her spirit, Mahalena reveals the violent tragedy of her revolutionary lover Daniel's death as they drive deep into the Chiapas mountains.

Surviving a near-death watery plunge, Mahee and Jack explore intense love and looming conflict as he learns more details about the jade phallus and Mahee's commitment to her higher cause of male-female integration.

Mahee escapes a border ambush while Jack gets banged around by border guards, interrogated by a Guatemalan tough named Quemado, and seemingly saved by an Embassy official named Nate Wingster.

Driving alone down to the magnificent Lago Atitlan in highland Guatemala, Jack locates Mahee's father Michael Bernhardt (El Maestro) and gets pulled into the man's lucid but bizarre private scene.

Jack fights against Michael's shaman/therapist dominance and ceremonies while urgently awaiting Mahalena's arrival at the lake.

Jack tries to helps El Maestro access the ancient power and wisdom of the jade phallus – and witnesses Michael's traditional male approach to the phallus explode into confusion and disaster.

Escaping El Maestro's compound, Jack has an intense mystic encounter in the local church, and ends up mysteriously welcomed by El Maestro's old lover – and taken to her seemingly-safe hot springs resort.

With Mahee still missing, Jack wakes up in seeming paradise and meets a seductive young scientist named Ursula who lures him over to Bernardo's secret research lab.

Jack agrees to participates in Ursula's holographic chakra experiment – and is shocked when he taps into the mythic Mayan Nokalito presence that Mahee had mentioned.

Mahalena's dangerous twin brother Bernardo arrives by helicopter, and the two men battle verbally – until Jack experiences directly the scary power of Bernardo's psych-tech inventions.

Realizing just how dangerously real Bernardo's psych-tech takeover plot is, Jack tries to talk sense into Ursula – then gets roughed up by the weird CIA/embassy guy, Nate Wingster, and Quemado, the government cop.

Escaping back to the hot springs, Jack encounters an ancient hermit. Then Michael comes and throws the jade phallus into the lake for Mahee to find – then she appears and she and Jack finally consummate their passion.

Mahee again disappears, leaving Jack to contemplate the very real danger they're both facing. He phones his mom and ex-wife, then slips into an essential realization.

Wearing a local native disguise, Jack bravely but nervously takes the mailboat over to native Santiago Atitlan – where he's grabbed by threatening locals, then plunged into a deep cavern and an overwhelming encounter with Mahee's grandmother and spiritual teacher – Abierta.

In dangerous circumstances, Abierta refuses to tap into the power of the jade phallus. Instead she transfers this ultimate challenge to Mahalena – who feels dumbfounded and temporarily powerless.

Again forced to separate from Mahalena, Jack finds himself confronting Bernardo's shamanic master Alehandro, the dominant old-order brujo of the lake who is intending to sacrifice Jack and perform the ultimate jade ceremony with Mahalena.

Mahalena and Jack try to perform the required jade ceremony – but they're suddenly captured by her brother's henchman Quemado – and flown in his private helicopter over to the secret lab compound.

Bernardo fights with Mahalena and Jack as the deadline approaches to try and tap the ancient power of the jade artifact, and merge this mysterious Mayan dimension into Bernardo's psych-tech mood-manipulation system.

When Ursula hooks Bernardo's brain electrodes to the jade piece through her computer system, the input nearly kills Bernardo – and he orders the execution of Jack and Mahee.

In a jolting climax, we're surprised both by Mahee's subtle ‘a la nueva' moves and also Ursula's final tech twist, resolving the higher-order drama and revealing the ‘a la nueva' vision's power to transform traditional male/female conflict.

The author shares background information and insights regarding various dimensions of the High Heart story, encouraging readers to look deeper through the provided URLs and challenges.

A number of deep cultural, political, scientific and spiritual questions were raised in High Heart. These 16 questions will help guide reflection and open discussion on the themes.