Shifting History: Urban Fantasy

San Francisco was emptied by the Big One. Fault lines, ley lines, whatever. People could stand living with the risk of their building collapsing around them or a sudden magical geyser streaming down [NAME] Street. What they couldn't live with so well was seeing a perpetual shifting history. It's hard to navigate the layers when you're likely to walk into a building that wasn't there 100 years ago, or to follow a subway path to a station that was closed decades ago, only to find yourself barred in with the ghosts. Experts still come in from all around to figure out what caused the permanent shifting landscape, why it didn't settle down after the aftershocks, like most leyquakes do. Scavengers come in to try and make their fortunes, or to retrieve family heirlooms. Homeless too bewildered to find their way out and too poor for the government to care about. And then there are people like me.


Inspiration: Gorgeous, eerie composites. What would it be like to live in a world where this is what you actually saw? http://burritojustice.com/2012/08/29/ghosts-of-1906/
Story Potential: High.
Notes: This could be an awesome setting for an urban fantasy story, but I'd need to figure out what the plot actually was. Also, this would be a good place for a legally blind protagonist with limited vision. Not sure how well this would combine with other urban fantasy story ideas. Not sure how much I want to write an urban fantasy. But it could be quite good! Although there would be a shit-tonne of historical research. At least SF's history is pretty well-documented.