From Stephen King to New Jersey diners, History Press books cover local lore around the US

NEW YORK (AP) — With deep knowledge of and curiosity about their inspirations, writer Sharon Kitchens began a journey around Maine. As she learned about the real-life settings and people behind such fiction as “IT” and “Salem's Lot,” she arranged them into an online map and story she called “Stephen King's Maine.”

“It was amateur hour, in a way,” she says. “But after around 27,000 people visited the site one of my friends said to me, ‘You should do something more with this.’”