Roadmarks

Roadmarks is a science fantasy novel by American author Roger Zelazny, written during the late 1970s and published in 1979. Structure and characters The novel postulates a road that travels through time, with a nexus placed every few years where a handful of specially gifted people are able to get on and off. The plot involves a series of assassination attempts on the protagonist, with short vignettes on each of the would-be assassins. The book has two poetry collections as characters. Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire and Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman appear as cybernetic extensions of themselves. They are companions of the protagonist and his son Randy, and referred to as "Flowers" and "Leaves" respectively. They talk, argue and frequently quote their own content, exhibiting human-like levels of intelligence. The novel alternates between non-linear "Two" and linear "One" chapters. According to Zelazny: