The Logoharp: A Cyborg Novel of China and America in the Year 2121

WINNER: NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS 2025 SILVER (Science Fiction)
WINNER: LITERARY TITAN GOLD BOOK (2024)
FINALIST: AMERICAN FICTION AWARD 2024 (Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk)
EDITOR'S PICK: PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BOOKLIFE 2024
EDITOR'S CHOICE: THE READER'S HOUSE UK (2025)

MEET NAOMI, CHINA'S MISTRESS OF PROPHECY and DISINFORMATION

The story of a young American journalist —hardened after a lover’s betrayal—who elects to become an AI-driven propagandist (aka Reverse Journalist) for China, the 22nd century's dominant global power. Naomi’s mission isn't to report current events. She extracts the "Truth of Probable Outcomes"—the most likely political and social scenarios from a Database of Crowds—and then the future happens exactly as she predicts.

Driven by voices she hears in her Logoharp, a neural receptor and translator that doubles the size of her brain, Naomi listens, speaks and broadcasts "music to the masses," ensuring citizen compliance. But she also detects strange, dissonant voices from sources she can't identify. In frozen Manchuria, Naomi discovers a terrifying State secret. Now she must decide whether to obey the Synaptic Armies invading her mind—or a human conscience that loves and defies reason.

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

'At the heart of the narrative is the fascinating concept of a receptor—a unique individual chosen to receive messages from a higher order. This central theme is seamlessly woven into the plot, driving a gripping narrative. The book’s feel recalls the brilliance I’ve admired in some of my favorite sci-fi and suspense thriller authors—writers who craft expansive, mind-bending systems that propel unforgettable stories.” -- Victoria Winifred, author, The Princess, the Knight and the Lost God: A Chess Story

""Bold, brainy, and provocative fiction…exploring urgent issues of truth, mis-and disinformation, and what it means to be human, all from the perspective of a winged, part-cyborg 'Reverse Journalist' RJ) …Emmett is a talent to watch.” —Publishers Weekly Booklife.

"Prepare to be swept away by an imperfect yet wildly relatable heroine. This ancient, futuristic world will make you angry, frustrated, hopeful, in love, and inspire an uprising within." Grace Diida, L.L.M Venture Capital Research

"Emmett's novel creates a troubling vision of media in an AI-filled future." --Hamilton Bean, Ph.D., author of No More Secrets: Open Source Information and the Shaping of US Intelligence (Prager).

“Loved The Logoharp. It’s genuinely original, disturbing in a provocative way, occasionally funny and erotic…and I can’t get those ice sleighs out of my head! Naomi is one strange—and beguiling—heroine.” —Laura Berman, columnist and feature writer, The Detroit News.

“In Arielle Emmett’s fevered imaginings one great and ancient state is able to dominate the rest using an unbeatable secret weapon: Logoharps. Creatures able to see into the future, ensuring the State is always a step ahead. That is, until one rebels. Imagine Mona Lisa Overdrive meshed with The Wind-Up Girl. That’s the kind of sci-fi ride you’re in for with The Logoharp."—Kevin Sites, author, The Ocean Above Me (HarperCollins).

"Exceptional world building set in a strange and unfamiliar society that straddles cyberpunk and something more personal and elegant. It's a world where augmentation, geopolitics, and internal emotional turmoil collide colorfully and messily in all the right ways." – Leo York, Film Documentarian, Distilling Augusta.

Arielle Emmett, Ph.D., is a writer, science journalist. and traveling scholar specializing in East Asia and Africa. She has been a Contributing Editor to Smithsonian Air & Space magazine (2014-2021) and a Fulbright Scholar and Specialist in Kenya (2018-2019) and Indonesia (2015). A Mandarin and French speaker, Emmett has won prizes in magazine and journal competitions staged by the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and the International Communications Association (ICA). She has reported and taught in China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, East Africa, Ireland, and Italy. In July 2024 The Logoharp, Emmett's debut work of literary and feminist fiction, was named Finalist in Science Fiction at the American Fiction Awards 2024. The novel was named Editor's Pick in Publishers Weekly Booklife. Literary Titan gave a five-star Gold Book Award rating in August 2024.