Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Death In Tolkien
4 Jun, 2025
(edited)
2025-6-4 12:13:42 PM UTC
2025-6-4 12:13:42 PM UTC
A new HarperCollins book coming out in October.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings meets Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies in this darkly satirical illustrated parody of the Tolkien universe: ‘A is for Arwen broken by sorrows; B is for Boromir punctured by arrows. C is for Celebrimbor hung out to dry; D is for Denethor…'
‘Stories – frankly, human stories are always about one thing – death. The inevitability of death.’ J.R.R. TOLKIEN
A distinguished linguist and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as the father of the fantasy genre, drawing on his knowledge of legends and folklore to create a new mythology and write the ultimate epic novel. He populated his books with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Dragons and Dwarves, but as in all epic tales, there can be only one fate for Mortal Men…
Doomed to Die is a uniquely irreverent glance at the world of Tolkien. It started life as an innocent Inktober project, but somehow grew in the telling to become a book.
A bit more from HC about the book
Tom Racine is an illustrator, and the book is mostly illustrations. He’s known in some online circles for the ‘Wizard Blues’ cartoons https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the ... -rom/list?title_no=957997 Doomed to Die is based on a series of daily sketches he posted on Instagram for Inktober 2024 and has redrawn for the book.
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Tom's next book in the series, coming out in July.
In the footsteps of Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Deaths in Tolkien, and inspired by the works of Edmund Gorey, this insightful parody breathes life into Shakespeare with an illustrated ABC of the Bard's more gruesome deaths.
‘Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; The worst is death, and death will have his day.’ RICHARD II
Universally regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare was nevertheless responsible for more violent murders than any other playwright. Bringing true crime drama to Elizabethan audiences, death had dominion not only in Shakespeare’s histories and tragedies, but in his comedies too.
From Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet to King Lear and the Scottish play, Shakespeare killed his characters both on and off stage in bloody tales of treachery, murder, combat and retribution. Now To Die or Not To Die brings his plays to life by revealing the very best of these deaths.
Tom Racine’s unexpected journey from illustrator to published author began with Doomed to Die, an affectionate parody à la Edward Gorey of the dark side of J.R.R. Tolkien. A life-long admirer of the Bard, it was perhaps inevitable that Tom’s next collection would confirm him as a man of infinite jest…
The ABC of Murders (Agatha Christie)
What is The ABC of Murders by Tom Racine about?
Roger Ackroyd, Betty Barnard, Amyas Crale, Linnet Doyle… Agatha Christie's most famous victims are celebrated in this illustrated alphabet, parodying some of her most fiendish murders in this perfect gift book for Christie fans.
‘In the midst of tragedy we start the comedy.’ AGATHA CHRISTIE,THE ABC MURDERS
Agatha Christie was crowned ‘Queen of Crime’ by book reviewers when her sensational The Murder of Roger Ackroyd exploded onto bookshelves exactly 100 years ago. She published new books every year for half a century and became the world’s bestselling novelist, creating more than 2,000 characters – and killing more than 250 of them.
Poisoned, stabbed, electrocuted, shot, strangled, bludgeoned, injected, pushed off heights, drowned, smothered, incinerated, trampled to death … a litany of carnage lurks beneath the surface of Agatha’s books, and yet many of her fans still insist on calling them ‘cozy’.
Tom Racine’s wholesome existence as an illustrator, video producer and voice artist took a dark twist when he was commissioned to design and write two ABC books in the style of Edward Gorey about death in Tolkien and Shakespeare. But, as he soon discovered, those two paled in comparison to the Queen of Crime in the gentle art of infamy…
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