Ellis describes the creation of Quit City, "The aviation pulps were the first to fade from memory. AIR WONDER STORIES. G-8 And His Battle Aces. Dusty Ayres And His Battle Birds. Not just combat pilots, but adventurers and heroes, fighting strange wars in the air. From a time when flight was still a little like magic, and aviators were heroes. They were an elite group, brave and skilled, technological explorers. The aviator hero couldn't survive the future, of course. Pilots are no longer rare and remarkable creatures. Like all great leaps, they became old ground. And so has Emma Pierson. She's the truth and the metaphor, and the classic pulp adventure story thrown into reverse. She's the aviator-heroine who's turned her back on it all. She's quit and gone home. She actually thinks she can go back to her old life, and that nothing's going to follow her. And she's almost right."
