Today we are interviewing friend of the site and soon-to-debut author, A. A. Freeman! Okay to be fair she is already an author, but next month will be the release of her first full length novel, Echo of the Larkspur! While her novella series is based on fantasy retellings of fairy tales, her new book is science fiction, and, well, let’s have her tell us a bit more about it!
1. To begin with, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hi everyone! I’m Amber Freeman [writing as A. A. Freeman]! Author, crafter, and potential robot. I live in the foothills of North Carolina and my main goal in life is to eat the ‘One Ring’ Magic the Gathering card that Post Malone owns. My hobbies include everything that has to do with yarn, a few things that have to do with string, and watching five hour essays on obscure Japanese video games. If I had to describe myself in two words it would be Amber Freeman.
2. How did you get into writing? Have you always been a writer? Or is this a new addition to your life?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer even since my parents thought it would be a good idea to let me read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at age ten. My brother and I even tried writing a book together when I was in middle school called The Heroic Amateurs of the Three Kingdoms. That experience taught me writing was super hard and nowhere as fun as Snoopy made it out to be, so I then put off writing ever again until late High School when I was introduced to the magical world of fanfiction.
I wrote one fanfic (about the game NiGHTS into Dreams), realized writing was still hard, and dropped it again until I was an adult working at a terrible office job with zero internet monitoring and nothing else to do but write. It was then I got serious about my fanfic writing—well, as serious as one can be—and actually gave the whole ‘what if I wrote an actual novel’ thing a shot again. I’ve been writing regularly ever since.
3. Can you explain a bit about what the story of Echo of the Larkspur is about, and maybe give us a quick introduction to the main character, Ciro?
Echo of the Larkspur is about a paranoid anxiety-ridden scientist named Dr. Ciro Kwakkenbos and a rather snarky but charming robot named S.A.G.E. who find themselves working together to uncover a mystery that threatens the safety of their entire space colony. They must learn to trust each other, delve into past secrets that would be better off forgotten, and maybe find love along the way.
Ciro is a scientist who specializes in fixing aberrant artificially intelligent robots for a living. He’s been out of the field for a few years due to a rather traumatic past experience, but the Iris Colony on Ceres offered him a deal he could not turn down. Ciro is a bit of a smartass, but has a heart a little larger than he would ever admit to out loud. He tries to keep his distance with people but he’s a sucker for helping when the situation calls for it. But above all else he’s a dork that gets a little too excited when given the chance to tinker with vintage machinery.
4. A while back you wrote an article for our site about some “advice” a male writer gave you after reading a draft of this book. Something about taking out the LBGTQ+ elements to make it more likely to sell? Did that incident change your book at all?
Yes, I went back and put more diversity in my book and made it as queer as humanly possible. If I’m not going to get published because S.A.G.E. isn’t a female robot that needs a big strong man to teach her how to become human, then I’m going to make damn sure no ‘normies’ will want to read this, period. If you enjoy bland milquetoast stories where everyone is white, cis, and straight then this is not the book for you. This is a book about a dude who falls in love with a robot who is also a dude. Deal with it.
5. As well as being a story full of extremely diverse characters (gender, orientation, nationality, disability, etc.), I know mental health and mental illness play a huge part in your work, and in your life. Was it important to you to include positive representations of them in your story?
When I started writing this book I was in a very bad place mentally. I was working at my previously mentioned terrible office job and being suffocated by my untreated anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Back then people didn’t talk as openly as they do today about mental health struggles. I was completely alone, convinced it was all my fault I felt this way.
Writing Ciro—a person struggling with anxiety and PTSD—was my only means of speaking out about how I felt. And you know what? I kept getting comment after comment from people about how much they identified with Ciro. How it was wonderful to see they weren’t alone with these feelings. And that let me know I wasn’t alone, either.
6. I have heard rumors you are a giant geek. Did you perhaps add any Easter eggs to your story careful readers might notice?
I think as a geek I’m legally required to put references to other geek things in my stories. They range from something that smacks you straight in the face going HEY REMEMBER THIS THING to literally a part that’s a reference to an old Dungeons & Dragons game I played with my brother that only he would get. And a few in between, of course.
7. Do you have a favorite character or couple in the story (aside from the main pair)?
I would say my favorite character is Ox, the Iris Colony’s janitor and smuggler of illegal goods. Writing her scenes was always a laugh and she’s just a great person to pop in and annoy the other characters with. Also I have a friend who cosplayed as her years ago at a convention back when Echo of the Larkspur was in the earliest of drafts. How can I not love Ox after that?
For a couple, I’m going to say Gabi and Lu’lu. They’re so adorable. When they were both five years old Gabi announced she was going to marry Lu’lu one day and they’ve been a couple ever since. You know these two are going to be a sickeningly sweet for the rest of their lives.
8. Echo of the Larkspur is a standalone title, but it’s also the first book in The Daisy Chain Chronicles. How many books is the series going to be? And where did you come up with the series name?
If no one is able to stop me? Twelve. I have ideas for all of the books—some just notes, some outlines, some first drafts, and some that just need some polish—that range hundreds of years into the future of the Echo of the Larkspur universe.
For why Daisy Chain, the answer is because of the characters who connect the stories together. A supporting character from Echo of the Larkspur will be the main character in the next book, and so on, and so on. I just picture it as a daisy chain crown where all the flowers are interconnected and placed gently on the head of a robot.
9. Can you give us any hints about what might be in the second book? Will we be following the same characters? Or exploring more of the solar system’s secrets?
We’re going to the very edge of the Sol System in the next book to a space colony most people spend their lives trying to avoid. There’s going to be a few familiar faces, some new characters, and a series of walking washing machines that look like turtles. It’s going to be fantastic!
10. You’ve also written a series of fantasy novellas, The Midwife Fables. Three out of a six book series I believe? What made you decide to go with science fiction for your first full length novel?
I actually started Echo of the Larkspur before I started The Midwife Fables. The truth is I do like fantasy more, but that’s not from lack of trying. When I started Echo I was having a hard time trying to find the kind of science fiction novel I wanted to read. Something light hearted, with a bit of romance, that wasn’t bogged down with serious technical science. Yet all I could find was one depressing book after super-serious book after another.
Nowadays there’s books like The Murderbot Diaries and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, but back then it was slim pickings. So I was like, screw it, I’m going to write my own sci-fi novel! And have cute robot romance in it!
11. Who are some of your writing influences? And what are some books/authors you would suggest people read if they are new to science fiction and fantasy?
Not shockingly at all, my main influences are classic comedic authors like Sir Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. When it comes to modern books to suggest I say check out the aforementioned Murderbot Diaries [Martha Wells] and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet [Becky Chambers] if you haven’t already.
I also want to give a shout-out to Nadia Oxford, cohost of the podcast Axe of the Blood God (that you can check out here) whose writing has inspired me for years. Yes I’m talking about the Mega Man X fanfic from like twenty years ago. I wouldn’t be writing about smooching robots if it wasn’t for that.
12. Echo of the Larkspur is coming out in July. Where can readers buy/preorder it? And where can they find your other work?
You can preorder Echo of the Larkspur on Amazon right here in digital format!
For paperback and hardcover versions you have to wait until July 23rd for it to come out [because Amazon won’t do preorders for physical books for some reason].
You can find my other work over on my website for those interested in The Midwife Fables. And if you really want you can even read my fanfiction over on Archive of Our Own. I mean, I was inspired by fanfic to write. Who says someone else won’t be?
Thanks again to Amber for taking the time to speak with us today! Her first novel, Echo of the Larkspur is due out July 23, 2025 in ebook, paperback, and hardcover. If you’d like to learn more about this story or her other work you can check out her website or follow her on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads, or Tumblr.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene
Geoff Matthews