History AluminumChristmasTrees / Literature

* Aluminum in ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' is an extremely expensive metal prized for its AntiMagic properties (it's also noted as expensive and rare in [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy the original trilogy]]). While real life aluminum doesn't stop someone from magically influencing your emotions, it ''was'' more valuable than gold due to its rarity, until modern smelting techniques made it common. Basically, practical smelting of aluminum requires large amounts of electrical power; something not easy to come by before the late 19th century.
** Most aluminum smelting plants are built near large rivers with large-scale hydroelectric plants for this reason.

* In Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', there is a character who has turned his house into a miniature castle complete with moat and drawbridge. To modern readers this may seem eccentric, but this was actually quite common for wealthy Victorians. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Then again]], it may also seem like the act of a rich idiot who wants to impress other rich idiots, and WeHaveThoseToo here in the 21st century. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130421030141/http://www.austincastlehouse.com/ Case in point.]] Another Victorian example is A. J. Cronin's ''Hatter's Castle'', and another castle-house is the titular house in the ''Literature/TheGreenKnoweChronicles'' series of English children's books.

* After the 'Stute Fish has convinced the Whale to try [[ToServeMan eating a man]] he tells the Whale that he'll find a castaway sailor that he can sample at Latitude 50 North, Longitude 40 West. These are real-life coordinates for a location in the Atlantic Ocean about 550 miles east of Newfoundland, Canada.

* You might be forgiven for thinking the dire wolves from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' are a D&D reference, but ''Aenocyon dirus'' is a real canid that went extinct roughly 9,000 years ago.

* The character of John Blackthorne in ''Literature/{{Shogun}}'' is quite obviously invented by the author, surely? Well... no.

* Creator/StephenFry's retelling of ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' is titled ''The Stars' Tennis Balls'' (or just ''Revenge'' in the U.S.), which sounds like an IntentionallyAwkwardTitle and/or a pun on ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'', another Monte Cristo retelling. However, the seemingly ridiculous title quotes a line from the Jacobean tragedy ''Theatre/TheDuchessOfMalfi'': "We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded which way please them."

* ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables''
** The eponymous house was based on a real farmhouse on Prince Edward Island, which still exists today.
** A minor example, probably, but one of Rilla Blythe's diary entries in ''Rilla of Ingleside'' (which spans the four years of WWI) tells about her seeing a movie called ''Hearts of the World'' with her mother, Anne, and even describes a scene from it. This was a real movie from 1918.

* ''Literature/InPraiseOf hadows'' by Junichiro Tanizaki:

* In ''A Dollar To Die For'', the Apaches, led by Banton, use maneating ants on Blondie. This method of torture seems strange and outlandish, but apparently it was true.

* ''In Praise of Shadows'' by Junichiro Tanizaki:

* The presence of pneumatic rubber tires on carriages in the ''Literature/LordDarcy'' series may seem like AlternateHistory SchizoTech, but such tires were actually invented decades before motorized vehicles began supplanting horse-drawn transport, and were commonly installed on high-end coaches and bicycles.

* ''Literature/AmericanGods'': The House on the Rock is a real place in southern Wisconsin and is, if anything, even weirder than described in the book. The carousel is real (but you probably won't be allowed to ride on it). So are The Streets Of Yesterday and The Drunkard's Dream. And the whale. And the Infinity Room. And the Santas, if you visit around Christmas (they vanish into the ether come January). There's also some beautiful artwork, rooms full of dolls, self-playing orchestra instruments, enough narrow dark corridors to make a claustrophobe suicidal, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a surprising dearth of bathrooms.]]

** Butterscotch Krimpets are made to sound so delicious that many kids reading the book thought they were made up. [[http://www.amazon.com/PACKS-Tastykake-Butterscotch-Krimpets-Tastycakes/dp/B000Z8RZ3M They aren't]], they were just a regional snack (made by Philadelphia’s Tastykake, one of UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}}‘s absurd variety of local snack manufacturers).

** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', Vimes is unamused to find that much of the heraldry at the Ankh-Morpork College of Arms is composed of visual puns. This is actually based on real-life examples of canting arms, which depicted puns or rebuses based on the name of the bearer.

* ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'' has one exchange between Carter and Sadie, wherein a restaurant has chicken and waffles — that is, fried chicken, served with waffles and maple syrup. Sadie, who was raised in the UK, is unsurprisingly confused (and somewhat disgusted) at this combination — similar to most people in the United Kingdom. Truth be told, until the mid-2010s, most ''Americans'' would have been weirded out by the combination, as it was historically limited to the Southern and Soul Food (i.e. Black) culinary traditions,[[labelnote:However]]There is actually a form of chicken and waffles native to the North, but it is very different and much narrower: it is an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe of ''stewed'' chicken on top of waffles, and knowledge of it is basically limited to certain parts of Pennsylvania — particularly Lancaster County.[[/labelnote]] though some national chains did have it on their (voluminous) breakfast menus. Around 2013, though, Lay's Potato Chips included a "Chicken and Waffles" flavor in their "Do Us A Flavor" competition; while the flavor didn't win, it raised the profile of the combination enough that Americans (though nobody else) would regard it as unsurprising.