The novella was partly inspired by Hokusai's Views of Mt. Fuji (Charles Tuttle, 1965), a book that contains precisely 24 prints painted by Hokusai. In Zelazny's version, the character Mari consults that very book during the story. (Hokusai painted more than 100 images of Mt. Fuji but he is best known for another selection of them: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.)