Synopsis – Logoharp
From Amazon – Named Finalist in the American Fiction Awards 2024 (category Science Fiction: Cyberpunk), The Logoharp describes the extraordinary journey of a young American journalist who chooses to work as an AI-driven propagandist—aka “Reverse Journalist” who foresees and reports the future for 22nd century China. Naomi is surgically transplanted, giving her extraordinary powers of foresight and physical strength. She hears voices in her Logoharp, a universal translator of all world languages, allowing her to take the pulse of global crowds, predicting and broadcasting political and social events with deadly precision.
But Naomi also hears discordant voices coming from unidentified sources. She knows only that mysterious voices sing to her of other worlds, other freedoms. When she’s tasked with finding a flaw in a State system that balances births and deaths —a system devised by a Chinese architect, Naomi’s lover who abandoned her in youth—she experiences “unintentional contradiction.” Suppressed emotions resurface, compelling her to rebel. Her decision has unexpected consequences for the men and women she loves, for her own body, and for the global societies she’s vowed to protect.
Author Bio
Arielle Emmett, Ph.D., is a writer, visual journalist and traveling scholar specializing in East Asia, science writing and human interest. She has been a Contributing Editor to Smithsonian Air & Space magazine and a Fulbright Scholar and Specialist in Kenya (2018-2019) and Indonesia (2015).
Her work has appeared in Mother Jones, The Scientist, Ms., Parents, Saturday Review, Boston Globe, Washington Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times Book Review and Globe & Mail (Canada), among others.
Arielle has taught at the International College Beijing, University of Hong Kong Media Studies Centre, Universitas Padjadjaran (West Java, Indonesia) and Strathmore University Law School (Nairobi). Her first science fiction novel, The Logoharp, about China and America a century from now, is part of a planned series on dystopian paths to utopian justice.
Website: https://leapingtigerpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560368953572
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arielle.emmett
Author Q&A
How did you do research for your book?
In the last decades I’ve taught and reported from Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Jatinangor (Indonesia) and Nairobi, studying the Chinese influence on media, human rights, and local economies. Before that, I wrote a doctorate on the impact of news photography, measuring
how images affect the minds of readers and viewers. In all, I spent about 12 years researching material for this book.
Which was the hardest character to write? The easiest?
Naomi, The Logoharp’s main character, was the most challenging. In this story, she starts as a vulnerable American journalist and morphs into an AI-driven media propagandist (aka “Reverse Journalist”) for China who eventually rebels. Why would she do this? She lives in a severely weakened “Ameriguo” in the 22nd century. Betrayed by a young lover, she believes that “Mother Country” (China), the dominant global power, will ensure peace and a harmonious existence for a troubled planet. She chooses to become an elite Reverse Journalist (RJ), someone who doesn’t write about current events. Instead, she “reports the future.” Surgically transformed, she’s equipped with a “Logoharp,” a neural instrument that doubles the size of her brain, enabling her to hear government instructions but also mysterious voices from sources she can’t identify. This sets up a conflict. Her human conscience never leaves her…and then she discovers a terrible secret in Harbin, Manchuria.
The easiest character to write was Lang Fei (Chinese for “waste of space”), based on an old Chinese doctor friend. He’s eccentric, lovable, possibly a spy, who tries to help Naomi and her friend Miranda discover the truth about a broken system. But all these characters have complexities and changes of mind.
There are many books out there about dystopic futures. What makes yours different?
My novel is cross-cultural, scientific, and political. It deals with a verboten topic of family racism, the “disposal” of talent in middle and elder years, and severe media dysfunction on both sides of the Pacific.
In the novel, Naomi, despite her cyborg transformation, retains memories of her parents’ instructions about right and wrong. She attempts to find a grain of truth in a world where there is no objective reality and media becomes a blunt instrument of mass illusion. Her job is to entertain and quell rebellion in the masses. As Andrew Singer, a China expert, wrote in this review:
“The Logoharp is a story of love and horror. It is relatable and disturbing. The grave issues facing us now remain potent: AI, drugs (fentanyl), and climate catastrophe to name a few….these all converge as the novel slides down the ice.”
– Andrew Singer Talks about China.
What advice would you give budding writers?
Joyce Carol Oates noted recently that writers should deal with subjects that are taboo to them or their families. Another way to say this is to make the unseen seen. Also felt. Pay attention to close observation of the concrete, sensory world – how things appear, sound, smell, taste, touch…Believe in the power of time and unconscious thought (even dreams) to help solve narrative problems. Be honest about how much you love and hate certain people, places, and things. Allow yourself a gray area, too. And be aware that acutely observing others doesn’t mean you know yourself.
Your book is set in China, Taiwan, and America. Have you ever been there?
Many times, many years. I’ve lived, reported and taught in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan, parts of Indonesia, and, more recently, Nairobi, Kenya on a Fulbright Scholarship. Also Italy and Ireland.
In your book you state, “…the connection between corrupt and inept is very strong.” Why is that?
Naomi is speaking in her own voice to two of her bosses who become torturers, Dean Cheung and Dakota Sung. Both exploit the corrupt and incompetent actors around them to hoodwink the public. As Naomi says, “You are trained to exploit any gap in knowledge among the masses, leveraging their ignorance to mask the incompetence of officials all around you…”
If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would you be?
Naomi, unquestionably.
Do you have another profession besides writing?
I’ve been a Fulbright scholar and researcher teaching at universities and law schools in the U.S., China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Africa.
How long have you been writing?
Since the age of four.
Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?
Generally, any “block” results from not knowing a subject or incident as thoroughly as I need to. Deeper research helps.
