History Main / AliensInCardiff

* The short story [[http://www.sfreader.com/contest-2008-1.asp "On a Clear Day You Can See All the Way to Conspiracy"]] by Desmond Warzel is a literal case of Aliens in Cleveland; well, actually, aliens in the upscale suburbs of Gates Mills and Lyndhurst (apparently even extraterrestrials have standards).

* ''Punx'' featured a {{Notzilla}} looking to mix things up because the people of Tokyo gave him an EmbarassingNickname. A friend helps narrow down targets until they reach... Acclamation, Oregon (not a real place, but then again neither is Monster Island). Acclamation appears to be a bustling cyberpunk metropolis on the sea, oddly enough.

* Subverted-by-RealLife example: The designers of ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' originally picked Seattle for their game's home base, because as large North American cities went, it was relatively obscure in pre-90s pop culture. Little did they suspect that movies, TV shows, grunge and Starbucks would conspire to elevate Seattle's cultural prominence in the years to follow.

* In an ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'' storyline, Head Alien experiments with his new time freezing technology in a small town in Canada, leading to the exchange in the page quote. It's also an excuse for a CrossOver with another webcomic, ''Webcomic/{{Avalon}}'', set in small-town Canada, which was in the middle of a long hiatus.

* ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' features superhero action in Columbus, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}. Except for the fictional Ohio Research University (an obvious [[BlandNameProduct stand-in]] for OSU), the writer references real locations in and near Columbus. Also, the team of Canadian superheroes includes the Werewolf of London... Ontario.

* ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'': The main duo's CityOfAdventure is eventually revealed to be the town of Newport, Oregon. Meanwhile, [[AncientConspiracy The Committee]] has made its HQ underneath [[FlyoverCountry rural Nebraska]]. [[spoiler:The location of The Pit is eventually revealed to be beneath Pittsburgh, PA]].

** Wacken Open Air is probably ''the'' largest Heavy Metal festival in the world, bringing about 80,000 visitors from all over the world to the small German village of Wacken, pop. 1,819.

* In the Post-''Comicbook/CivilWar'' Creator/MarvelComics world [[Comicbook/TheMightyThor Asgard]] - the home of the gods of [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse legend]] - is floating over Broxton, Oklahoma.

* An entry for the Literature/BulwerLyttonFictionContest, as recorded in 1982's ''It was a dark and stormy night'' collection, discards the Big City and sets the putative action in a more unlikely venue:

* An entry for the Literature/BulwerLyttonFictionContest discards the Big City and sets the putative action in a more unlikely venue:
-->''"It had been three days since Torfongu had eaten Los Angeles, and now he sat staring down at Bakersfield... a tasty little morsel, indeed."''

* An entry for the Bulwer-Lytton [[ItWasADarkAndStormyNight worst-first-sentence contest]] discards the Big City and sets the putative action in a more unlikely venue:

This is sometimes PlayedForLaughs, though in most cases it is just an example of events that do happen in the world outside its largest cities. The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the ''Series/DoctorWho'' revival and subsequent spin-off ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. This is because the revived ''Doctor Who'' [[CreatorProvincialism was produced]] by [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. This trope may also happen as a type of AuthorAppeal, when the author is a native of that location and wants to see it in the spotlight. Such an author may also prefer to [[WriteWhatYouKnow write what he knows]]. Writing about New York City when you don't actually live there risks making the setting generic and cliched, but if you're from [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina Charlotte]] and know its culture, locales, and history, it can make your story distinctive, as well as informative for outsiders and exciting for locals who will get the references.

This is sometimes PlayedForLaughs, though in most cases it is just an example of events that do happen in the world outside its largest cities. The trope namer is the ''Series/DoctorWho'' revival and subsequent spin-off ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. This is because the revived ''Doctor Who'' [[CreatorProvincialism was produced]] by [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. This trope may also happen as a type of AuthorAppeal, when the author is a native of that location and wants to see it in the spotlight. Such an author may also prefer to [[WriteWhatYouKnow write what he knows]]. Writing about New York City when you don't actually live there risks making the setting generic and cliched, but if you're from [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina Charlotte]] and know its culture, locales, and history, it can make your story distinctive, as well as informative for outsiders and exciting for locals who will get the references.

* ''Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'' follows the misadventures of a group of ancient, murderous vampires living as flatmates in UsefulNotes/{{Wellington}}, UsefulNotes/NewZealand. The [[Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019 spin-off TV show]] focuses on a different group who live on Staten Island, which, while technically part of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, is considered the BlackSheep of the Five Boroughs and often viewed as an extension of [[{{Joisey}} suburban New Jersey]].

* ''Literature/{{Jam}}'' is set in Brisbane, Australia, which while it is still a large city in its own right is nowhere near as populated or well-known outside of Australia as say Sydney or Melbourne.

** Same with the Calder Valley in Yorkshire, though it's becoming more well-known in the UK due to television production moving there.

** Similarly, nobody gave a fig about Rendlesham Wood in East Anglia, England, until an alleged U.F.O. sighting in 1980. It is held as one of the few points of interest in the entire East Anglia area, despite proximity to London.

* The first Martian ship to reach Earth in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898'' lands in Horsell Common in Woking, Surrey. Creator/OrsonWelles' [[Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds1938 radio production]] moves it to Grover's Mill, New Jersey, while the [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds1953 1953 adaptation]] moves it to Linda Rosa, California and the [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005 2005 adaptation]] has them attacking Bayonne, New Jersey (across the river from the BigApplesauce, but fairly obscure to people from outside New York) instead.

** There is a touch of irony here as the film was written and produced by Frank Wells, younger son of Creator/HGWells -- who also wrote a [[Literature/WarOfTheWorlds particularly famous story about aliens]] ([[AliensAreBastards albeit more hostile ones]]) landing in Surrey and progressing to London.

* The first Martian ship to reach Earth in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' lands in Horsell Common in Woking, Surrey. Creator/OrsonWelles' [[Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds radio production]] moves it to Grover's Mill, New Jersey, while the [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds 1953 adaptation]] moves it to Linda Rosa, California and the [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds 2005 adaptation]] has them attacking Bayonne, New Jersey (across the river from the BigApplesauce, but fairly obscure to people from outside New York) instead.

* A major reason why the Islamic State terrorist organization is so much more dangerous than its predecessor al-Qaeda is because of their willingness to embrace this trope. Generally, al-Qaeda typically plans their terror attacks to hit major cities and national capitals to cause massive casualties for maximum effect. This has been seen numerous times with incidents like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa]], 9/11, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the 2005 London bus bombings, and the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, with fewer low-profile attacks in small cities. In contrast, Islamic State's strategy is practically the inverse of al-Qaeda's: IS conducts large-scale attacks on capitals more rarely (most infamously, the November 2015 Paris attack and the March 2016 Brussels bombings) but they actually ''prefer'' to hit small and mid-sized towns much more frequently, using a DeathOfAThousandCuts strategy. Examples of this include the [[http://www.inquisitr.com/2257852/chattanooga-shooting-isis-twitter-account-warned-of-attack-minutes-before-shooting-authorities-calling-it-terrorism/ July 2015 Chattanooga shooting]], the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_San_Bernardino_attack December 2015 San Bernardino shooting]], and numerous stabbing incidents such as in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Merced_stabbing_attack Merced, California]], [[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/13/french-policeman-stabbed-death-paris Maganville, France]], [[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/23/fbi-reportedly-investigating-whether-virginia-stabbing-was-isis-inspired.html Roanoke, Virginia]], and [[http://abcnews.go.com/US/isis-claims-responsibility-stabbing-attack-minnesota-mall/story?id=42173697 St. Cloud, Minnesota.]]

* Music/{{Phish}} held a series of huge festivals in the '90s and 2000s, with them as the only performing act, but none of them were held in traditional hotspots for such things. Three of them (The Great Went in 1998, Lemonwheel in 1999, and It in 2003) were held on an air force base in the small town of Limestone, Maine, which is on the Canadian border in the far north-east of the state far away from any significant population center (It is ''173 miles'' from Bangor, the nearest large city). 20 years on from these festivals, the locals in Limestone still [[https://thecounty.me/2018/09/01/news/after-two-decades-phish-concerts-continue-to-evoke-strong-memories/ talk about them]] with bewilderment, particularly how peaceful Phish's traveling fanbase was despite its enormous size.

This is sometimes PlayedForLaughs, though in most cases it is just an example of events that do happen in the world outside its largest cities. The trope namer is ''Series/DoctorWho'' revival and subsequent spin-off ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. This is because the revived ''Doctor Who'' [[CreatorProvincialism was produced]] by [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. This trope may also happen as a type of AuthorAppeal, when the author is a native of that location and wants to see it in the spotlight. Such an author may also prefer to [[WriteWhatYouKnow write what he knows]]. Writing about New York City when you don't actually live there risks making the setting generic and cliched, but if you're from [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina Charlotte]] and know its culture, locales, and history, it can make your story distinctive, as well as informative for outsiders and exciting for locals who will get the references.

This is sometimes PlayedForLaughs, though in most cases it is just an example of events that do happen in the world outside its largest cities. The trope namer is ''Series/DoctorWho'' and subsequent spin-off ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. This is because the revived ''Doctor Who'' [[CreatorProvincialism was produced]] by Creator/{{BBC}} UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. This trope may also happen as a type of AuthorAppeal, when the author is a native of that location and wants to see it in the spotlight. Such an author may also prefer to [[WriteWhatYouKnow write what he knows]]. Writing about New York City when you don't actually live there risks making the setting generic and cliched, but if you're from [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina Charlotte]] and know its culture, locales, and history, it can make your story distinctive, as well as informative for outsiders and exciting for locals who will get the references.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B4nio_Villas_Boas The Antonio Villas Boas case is one of the strangest known alien abduction incidents]] (and which apparently involved sex with an attractive humanoid), and it occurred in a rural area of Minas Gerais, a province in southern Brazil.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is set in Forks, Washington, a place the residents have barely heard of. Another vampire clan lives in Denali, Alaska. Considering they've been there for a while and how rural, scenic and insular these places are, this may also overlap with LovecraftCountry.

This trope is generally reserved for science fiction, fantasy and other settings to contrast the mundane, out of the way locations with impossible situations, often as a grounding element. It doesn't apply as frequently to plausible real life scenarios, even large scale action ones-a group of vampires in Lansing, UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} might fit, but a high-stakes shootout between criminals and police, not as much.

* ''Literature/RichardTheThirdInTheTwentyFirstCentury'' comes to call UsefulNotes/{{Portland}}, Oregon home after his initial trip through time there. Other important scenes take place in UsefulNotes/{{Rochester}}, New York, and the BigApplesauce shows up as a location only because of the [[JustifiedTrope justified]] use of New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Hospital as the site of some very specific medical research.

->'''Stan Rosado''': Let's go alien for a second. Why here? Why UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}?
->'''Casey Connor''': Cause if you were going to take over the world, would you blow up the White House ''Film/IndependenceDay'' style... or sneak in through the backdoor?

* ''Film/{{Kronos|1957}} (1957)'': While (as usual of films of the era) AmericaSavesTheDay, the titular alien lands on (and stomps flat a good chunk of) Mexico.

-->Do you think [[spoiler:aliens]] only visit America?

* ''Alien In a Small Town'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. A [[StarfishAliens Starfish Alien]] ends up living in a small Mennonite town for years.

-->"It had been three days since Torfongu had eaten Los Angeles, and now he sat staring down at Bakersfield... a tasty little morsel, indeed."