BBS Virtual Tour

Allright, here it is, the Black's Beach Shuffle Virtual Tour.

There are two tours you can take, the Overhead Tour and the Helicopter Tour. They're basically the same tour with different camera angles. Both of these tours use Google Earth software. If you already have Google Earth on your computer, simply download one of the tours below and you're ready to get started.

• Overhead Tour


• Helicopter Tour

If you've never used Google Earth before, you can download it here. Once you've installed the software and downloaded one of the tours, just double-click on the tour .kmz file and you're ready to go. Use the play/pause buttons on the left side of your screen to control the tour. Click on the yellow push pins to read comments on each location.

What's in the tour? It's a chapter by chapter fly by of all the locations in the novel - neighborhoods, streets, beaches and buildings. In some cases they're real locations and in some cases I've indicated approximate locations for places I made up. I've also provided a short commentary on each location, how it was used in the book, why I used it, or just some information about the location that I thought might be interesting.

 

What is This?

Rolly Waters is a fictional detective and rock and roll guitar player from my novel "Black's Beach Shuffle." Rolly lives in San Diego and the San Diego location is as much a character as he is. Many of the locations featured in the book are actual places in San Diego (or based on actual places). This blog serves as a real-world guide to the fictional world of Rolly Waters. It will include photos, video and Google maps for reference, as well as the occasional song and local interview.

If you've read the novel, this blog can provide a real-world reference for places you read about in the book (Where exactly is The Farms? Is there really a Patrick's blues club? Where is Rolly's house?). Think of it as the Anti-tourist guide to San Diego. Rolly doesn't go to Sea World or The Zoo, though he does make an occasional, reluctant trip to the beach.

If you haven't read the book, perhaps these posts will pique your interest and you'll pick up a copy (I'm trying get some readers, here, OK?).

If you haven't read the book and never intend to, you may still find something of interest. I'll post on other topics related to the book, including blues music, guitar-playing, computer geekdom, mystery fiction.

I expect to post a couple of times a week. If you're interested in receiving posts or other information via email, you can sign up for my newsletter.

Thanks for taking a look,

Corey