HIGH HEART: the novel, podcast, and film teaser

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, when I finally finished rewriting HIGHER FORCES and signed with a publisher, I felt deep satisfaction that I'd told the story successfully in suspense/thriller mode. The story was now all laid out scene-wise and character-wise for the film or limited cable series - that's my ultimate goal. But ... all along, I knew I hadn't gotten to the thematic and relationship depths of the story, certainly not as far as the female hero, Mahalena, was concerned.

So yeah - following that publication I spent six months working on an experimental version of the story, told in brutally-honest introspective first-person rather than action-fixated third-person - going as deep as I could into the relationship that explodes into being between Jack and Mahalena. Finally I found myself able to delve into dialog that allowed Mahee to speak her mind. And wow - does she ever have something to say!

PODCAST AUDIO VERSION: This new version of the story is called HIGH HEART; A Lucid Tale Of Love & Discovery - my publisher has just released it in kindle. I'm writing this new blog to let you know that I've also now recorded the first 11 chapters as a podcast, so you can listen to the story in dramatic format if that's your preference. I personally found it both a massive challenge, and a great liberation to (for the first time) attempt to read my own fiction. Suddenly I was way inside the story, feeling the feelings of each character as I spoke their lines ... so for me, this audio version is the most powerful way to access the heart of the story.

Click on Podcasts on my author site or go to Spotify for the podcast version.

And here's what's really surprising - by the time I got to the climax of the story, I discovered that a radically different climax was emerging, quite beyond any authorial control - I won't say what happens, but rather than hitting violence at the end, High Heart ends with transformation. Finally we can see the deeper implications of using bio-tech to alter mood and thought flow. (I also explore this in the beginning of TEN PERCENT MAX which advances the plot five years into the future.)

FILM ACTION: I'm now focused on taking these three novels into cinematic expression. Toward this end we've developed a HIGHER FORCES limited-series treatment which is going the rounds in Hollywood, and also a 3-minute producer pitch/trailer video, which you can view at:

HIGHER FORCES ... view video

As Mahalena would say, a la nueva!

John