A History of Vengeance
At her newly redesigned site, Lilith Saintcrow writes about the inspirations for the Dante Valentine series.
Originally she came from several piecemeal sources. I was watching a lot of the first Kill Bill movie and a wonderful Roman Polanski movie based on an Arturo Perez-Reverte novel, The Ninth Gate, not to mention watching a lot of Seven Samurai. (I’m a big Kurosawa fan.) Danny has a katana because, well, what else does a samurai have? Edged metal and honor. She’s my answer to Toshiro Mifune, I guess.
Other cinematic inspirations? Lady Vengeance, Lady Snowblood, and La Femme Nikita.