A Goodreads user asked Amanda Sun:

are there any particular Japanese myths or real life locations that inspired the trilogy?

Amanda Sun Thanks for asking! Yes, almost everything in Paper Gods is based on real mythology and history. I wanted to take what was there and twist it just a little, so that you couldn't be sure what was real and what wasn't. :) A believable alternate magical history, as it were.

For example, the speech Tomo tells Katie that was made in WWII--that really happened. So did the nightmares that plagued Taira no Kiyomori, and the fever he had in the last days of his life.

And you can go to Shizuoka and see Toro Iseki, Nihondaira, Sunpu Park, and all the places mentioned in the books.

The original myths of the kami come into play more in RAIN, and even more in Book 3.

flag