Freddie A. Clark (they/them) is the entity hiding in a thread of cables and flowers, a cyborg riding their motorcycle in the streets of a Cyberpunk metropolis, a masked alchemist traversing Venetian canals. Proud human slave of three former stray cats, Norse Pagan and hopeless nerd, Freddie is influenced by the work of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Pat Cadigan, Anne Rice, and Neil Gaiman among many others. Their creativity draws from ‘80s aesthetic, movies and pop culture, and from an endless pile of books, graphic novels, manga and video games.
Website: freddieaclark.com
Instagram: @freddieaclarkauthor
Goodreads: Freddie_A_Clark
Itch.io: freddie-a-clark.itch.io
Book links for Umbra: books2read.com/u/4AdRDN
What were your main influences for Umbra: Tales of a Shadow, and how did they help to shape the book?
My main influence for Umbra: Tales of a Shadow was certainly Assassin’s Creed II, a game I always mention among its comp titles. I’m a big fan of the franchise, hence I’ve always loved the idea of writing a story about a stealthy assassin hiding in the dark corners of a breathtaking city, a silent shadow who uses his weapons and his charm to bring justice. Since Venice is one of the main locations in Assassin’s Creed II, the inspiration became even more obvious once I started drafting this story.
A fun fact I’ve never shared in the past: the idea for Umbra: Tales of a Shadow came to me exactly when, moved by nostalgia, I rewatched the first trailer from E3 2009! My love for Venice heavily influenced the world I described and it’s another inspiration worth mentioning, as well as my love for Cyberpunk literature, its detective aspects, and the concept of low-life/high-tech, like in the works of William Gibson and Richard Morgan.
What makes the themes of transformation and healing so important to you?
These themes are part of me and my personal history. My endless journey of self-discovery as a trans person made the theme of transformation particularly dear to me. My past experiences and trauma shaped the person I am; I wouldn’t be so proud of how far I’ve gone if healing hadn’t become an important personal goal. My identity affects my writing and that’s why the themes of transformation and healing are so recurrent in every story.
What elements of Venetian history did you include in the novel, and how did you adapt them for the story?
The historical facts that inspired the society of Florydia, Umbra: Tales of a Shadow’s setting, mostly come from Renaissance Venice. Figures like the Cortigiane Oneste, well-educated women who worked as sex workers and patrons of the arts, and the Lords of the Night, a mysterious judicial body of night vigilantes which was neglected by the men of power until its dissolution in XVIII century, have their counterparts in the city I created. Florydia’s government is also heavily based on the politics of the Serenissima and its several, intricate government bodies.
What made you choose cyberpunk as the genre for this story, and how does this genre create space to explore the themes?
Cyberpunk is my favourite literary genre. The idea of a Cyberpunk Venice is so rare it’s basically unheard of. Currently, Venice is a modern city with an ancient façade, a city in which modernity and tradition perfectly blend. I couldn’t help but imagine Venice in the future, with holograms, cyborgs, and neon lights. I described a counterpart of Venice as powerful as in the past, but even more modern than it is now, although still in love with its ageless and picturesque appearance. I can proudly say that the mix worked!
How do you see queerness and alchemy intersecting, and how do they work together in the novel?
Alchemy is first and foremost a philosophical system based on spiritual growth. Alchemists weren’t merely ancient scientists, but philosophers as well. The stages of the Great Work were used by the legendary scholar Hermes Trismegistus as metaphors for self-discovery: the Blackening is the death of one’s old self, the Whitening is the awakening, the Yellowing is the awareness, and the Reddening is the illumination, the final stage of transmutation.
I went through these stages myself when I started exploring my identity and finally figured out my gender. Self-discovery as a whole is a concept that alchemy and queerness share. Besides, alchemy includes the concept of Rebis, the divine androgyne, the reconnection of spirit and body represented by a being who’s both male and female. I love this idea so much that the co-protagonist of this story, the non-binary alchemist Soleluna, is compared to the Rebis on-page.
Is there anything you wanted to include in the novel (facts about history, culture, alchemy, or philosophy) that you had to leave out in the end? Can you share one of your favourite facts?
There were many facts I would’ve loved to include in Umbra: Tales of a Shadow, but my favourite is the mask named Gnaga. This cat-shaped mask is tied to Italian queer history and was worn by gay and bisexual men during the Carnival as a secret code. This fact is canon in my story, but unfortunately I had to leave it out and it’s not mentioned in the book. If I ever write another story set in this world, I’ll definitely add it!
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