The Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell - A Memoir: The Complete History of the Head of the Ruler of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, ... Subsequent Journeys Through the Centuries wit - Hardcover

Brilliant! Is this horror, cult fiction, science fiction, or a half-true travelogue through time as told by a dismembered head? Whatever you call it, the story is one of the most original pieces of writing this decade. One wonders about the state of Hartzman's own head as he comes up with one story after another, all told from the recesses of a skull while in the afterlife. You will cringe one minute and laugh the next as you find his head in familiar predicaments. - Tim O'Brien, Ambassador of Odd for Ripley's Believe It or Not! "The Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell is an exceptionally well-researched and thoughtful look at an influential figure in history and how he might've reacted to the many events that followed his rise and fall. The idea that Cromwell's spirit continued to observe the world through the eyes of his severed head is a fascinating one, and it provided a storytelling perspective quite unlike anything I'd read before. ... [It] is historical fiction done with grace, style, and ingenuity. (I haven't even mentioned the absolutely stunning cover.) What an unexpected treat." - San Francisco Book Review "Compulsively readable and genuinely fascinating, this is history from a perspective you've never encountered before--and may never again. A surprising delight for the morbidly curious." - Bess Lovejoy, author of Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses "Hartzman's genius narrative, a three-century panoramic portrait of English society, is as unexpected as it is innovative. As if he's channeled Thackeray through the mind of Terry Gilliam. His Lord Protector, though separated from brain & body, is a fully formed man. Still curious, still ambitious, still able to learn a thing or two as he leads us through backroom and bar room accompanied by his keepers who must forever defend the provenance of their beloved Lord Cromwell's extraordinary head." - Todd Field "Just because you're dead and buried doesn't mean your severed head can't go on an amazing, 300-year journey -- and talk about it. ... this fictionalized account recounts one of history's strangest tales in a way you'll never forget." - Buck Wolf, Executive Crime & Weird News Editor, The Huffington Post

Marc Hartzman has long held a fascination with the bizarre tales and characters that occupy history. Many of them fill the pages of his books, specifically The Embalmed Head of Oliver Cromwell: A Memoir (Curious Publications), American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers (Tarcher/Penguin) and God Made Me Do It: True Stories of the Worst Advice the Lord Has Ever Given His Followers (Sourcebooks). He is also the author of Found on eBay: 101 Genuinely Bizarre Items From the World's Online Yard Sale (Universe/Rizzoli) and The Anti-Social Network Journal: A Private Place For All the Thoughts, Ideas and Plans You Don't Want To Share (Knock Knock). In addition, Hartzman has been a contributor to the Weird News sections of AOL and The Huffington Post. He maintains a career as an award-winning Executive Creative Director at a New York advertising agency. He currently lives in New Rochelle, New York, with his wife, Liz, daughters Lela and Scarlett, cats Barnum and Bailey, and Patrick the bearded dragon.