The World Around You and Using it in Fiction

One of the comments I frequently get is how people enjoy seeing local landmarks in my fiction. I live in a small village about twenty miles south of Buffalo, New York. Both the City of Buffalo and my town have been used to great extent in my books.

I wrote a scene last week in the upcoming Dead Land book where my protagonists flee the zombies and end up at the Buffalo Naval Park. It's a pretty cool place. They have a submarine, a cruiser, and a destroyer docked in the yard. You can take tours of the ships and learn about their history.

One of the ships, the U.S.S. Sullivans, is reported to be haunted. I never went on the Sullivans, but remember taking a field trip to visit the cruiser Little Rock.

I thought it would be a cool setting for the story and something out of the ordinary. You can check out the ships here

What local settings have you used in your fiction?

As a reader, what cool settings have you seen in your favorite books?