It could just be the initials

[threemonkeys]

So there I am reading ASIM #28 and there is a story by Marissa K Linden called Rest Stop. It is a nifty little tale about the personification of a city. The city in question is San Francisco. My main thought as this became clear was "again?" It has been my experience that sf authors don't often identify a specific real city as the setting for their work. But when they do, San Francisco is by far the most popular choice. In my experience, it is way more common than the next nearest contenders London and New York. Of course I'm only looking at the written form here - if I was counting horror movies then Tokyo would be a major player.

So what is it that motivates authors make San Francisco as their setting rather than some fictional place name or just "the city". I have been to the city on the bay and it is a pretty cool place. But there are other cool places around the world. What is it specifically about San Francisco and its surrounding area that makes it force itself into stories? Like the story which started this thought, many of those stories have the city as an actual character. Perhaps it is character rather than "coolness" that is the key. It isn't easy picking a favourite but I think Pat Murphy's The City Not Long After does the best job of making a real living character come alive on the page. Perhaps I should go back there some day.