Tolkien fanatic Mark's parody in print at last

A true fan of epic fantasy novel the Lord of the Rings is now in print with his own version of the work.
Mark Egginton has written a book called The Lord of the GrinsMark Egginton has written a book called The Lord of the Grins
Mark Egginton has written a book called The Lord of the Grins

Ex-soldier Mark Egginton, who works at the Asda store in Fleetwood, has written a humorous parody of the JRR Tolkien book, entitled Lord of the Grins.

Two years ago 56-year-old Mark, who lives close to Fleetwood town centre, completed the work and published it as an e-book on kindle, through online publisher Amazon.

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But now it has been published by Edinburgh-based Luna Press as a solid, paper book, something Mark always wanted to achieve.

His work is a labour of love from an avid Tolkien admirer, who has no less than 74 copies of the Lord of the Rings alone.

His book is divided into three separate sections just like the Tolkien original, except in Mark’s case the they are called The Followship of the Ring (instead of Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Ring), The Two Townies (cribbed from the original Two Towers) and the Retinue of the King The Return of the King).

Well-known characters from the classic novel are wittily re-named, so Bilbo Baggins is re-styled Bilious Braggins. And Mark’s pen name is a parody in itself - URR Jokin.

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Mark said: “It was unusual, really - Luna Press came to me and asked me if I was interested in them publishing it after they saw it online.

“I didn’t need much persuading Before it was published there needed to be some serious checking because of copywrite restrictions, but it is obviously meant to be a parody and not one character or name in the book is the same, they’ve all been changed.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to put this book on the shelf alongside all the Tolkien stuff.”

Remarkably, Mark struggled with dyslexia as a child and could barely read, but later he became an avid reader and fell in love with the works of Tolkien and other writers.

Lord of the Grins is available on Amazon and other book sellers . Mark is now toiling on a version of Tolkien’s The Hobbit - his will be called The Halfbit!