#roadmarks

"I don't know."

It's unusual for Evelyn to be reticent to do anything - and harder still when Shade looks at her with those big, pleading eyes.

Finished (re-)reading “Roadmarks” by Roger Zelazny

There is a Road, built by the dragons of Bel’kwinith, that runs through both Time and Space. There are some few that can travel this road, to find the places that are, the places that were, and the places that might yet be.

Red Dorakeen is one of those few, as is his son, Randy. This is the story of the Black Decade, where Red’s former partner, Chadwick, has ten chances to kill him legally, and how Randy found both the Road, and Red, on the way to the Last Exit to Babylon.

This is a solid novel on its own, with interesting easter eggs and call outs to culture, both popular and literary. You can find references (some more hidden than others) to Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and Baudelaire’s Fleurs des Mal, to Doc Savage and Bruce Lee, to Keith Laumer’s Bolos and the Six Million Dollar Man, to the Marquis de Sade, and to other, less savory personages.

What makes the story most interesting to me is that it is clearly a warm up exercise that leads directly to Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October. There are heroes and villains (and neither is quite what you might think) involved in a ritualized combat, a Game, if you will. The sides are varied and changing, with good and evil on both sides of the conflict. There are elements of the mystic, and things unknown.

Oh, I should mention that, because it's Zelazny there is the experimental to its nature: the book is written from two major perspectives, Red's, and (mostly) Randy's. The chapters are headed either One (Red's) or Two ((mostly) Randy's.) Of course, the first chapter in the book is a Two, followed by a One, and continue on apace, alternating.

And, because it’s Zelazny, even as a warm up exercise, it’ll repay any time invested in it with a pleasant, enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

HBO & Games of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin are voltroning up with Kalinda Vazquez to develop an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s 1979 sci-fi/fantasy novel Roadmarks

The man that made the world utter, “Winter’s Coming” will act as the series exec-producer. Kalinda Vazquez (Marvel’s Runaways, Once Upon A Time, Star Trek: Discovery) will take on the screenwriting duties.

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Zelazny's book focuses on "a highway that can travel through time, linking all timelines and places together for the very special people who discover it. Some might use it to explore the vast mysteries of the world, but for others, the road might be their only hope to survive, rewrite life-altering mistakes, and create a better future for themselves and the ones they love."

Martin had this to add “My career in television started in 1985 when I adapted Roger Zelazny’s Last Defender of Camelot for The Twilight Zone. Roger was a friend, a mentor, and one of the greatest science fiction writers who ever lived. It was an honor to be able to bring his work to television. That is why I am so thrilled to be a part of adapting Roger’s novel Roadmarks for HBO. We have a great book, a great screenwriter in Kalinda Vasquez, and the makings of a wonderful, original show. I look forward to a long and thrilling journey.”

via - Comicbookmovie

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Roger Zelazny’s ‘Roadmarks’ On Track To Become A HBO Series

George R.R. Martin is helping one of Roger Zelazny‘s books become a television series. Deadline reports he is involved in a HBO adaptation of Zelazny’s 1979 novel Roadmarks as an executive producer. The novel tells the tale of a literal highway of time linking different and timelines together. A very special few may use the highway, and while some take the Doctor Who example of exploring its…