“Remember man and woman that thou art dust and to dust thou shall one day return. Let no man or woman mourn the passing of Mildred Marshall, for hers was a good life and she is now receiving her reward in heaven.”
– an excerpt from the book
ARPress is honored to publish The Dark Shines Bright by Richard A. Henry. This book is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the ARPress website.
Every so often, we stumble across a book that doesn’t just tell a story—it echoes. It’s a short novel, almost deceptively simple in its structure, but one that lingers long after the final page.
Author Richard Henry was born, raised and educated in New York City. After his service in the United States Marine Corps, which included a tour in Viet Nam, he returned to New York where he worked as a teacher and coordinator of Alternative High Schools.
In 1983, he moved to Oklahoma to serve as the Director of Alternative Dispute Resolution for four counties under the direction of the Oklahoma State Supreme Court. In 1990, he moved to California and set up a training program for formally incarcerated youth. In 1992, he served as the “Economic and Business Development Coordinator” for military base closures.
He published his first book of poetry, Beyond the Skull in 1976. His novel, Of Days Gone By was first published in 1990, followed by his second novel, Short Timer in 2002. His third book, The Extraordinary Life of an Extraordinary Bear was published in 2023.
The Dark Shines Bright is a conversation—raw, searching, and intimate. The novel centers on Richard, a man sitting across from his therapist, finally beginning to unpack decades of trauma, regret, longing, and fragile hope. What makes this book compelling is not just what Richard shares, but how he shares it: with aching honesty and a voice that feels painfully real. We quickly realize that this isn’t just therapy in the clinical sense—this is a soul clawing its way toward the light.
The story unravels entirely through these therapy sessions, and what emerges is a haunting portrait of a man shaped by abandonment, addiction, and loss—but also by fierce love, creativity, and resilience. Richard’s memories are vivid and deeply personal. He reflects on his childhood as a neglected boy in New York, his fierce love for music, and his descent into a lifestyle fueled by heroin and chaos. But even amid the darkness, there’s a persistent flicker of hope. That’s what the title promises, and the book delivers: yes, the dark is there, but somehow, it shines.
What is striking is how Henry captures the way pain and beauty often walk hand in hand. Richard’s brokenness doesn’t overshadow his humanity; it reveals it. His relationships—with friends, with music, with himself—are messy and complicated, but they’re also deeply human. The scenes with his friend Jesse, the memories of his late wife, and the quiet heartbreak of estranged family—these moments hit hard because they feel lived-in, not dramatized.
There’s also something universal in Richard’s search for meaning. Whether or not you’ve walked a path anything like his, there’s something recognizable in that yearning to be understood, to make peace with your past, to feel that your life mattered.
As to the style of writing, Henry’s writing is stripped-down and direct, almost like a transcription—but the emotional weight builds subtly. He doesn’t try to dazzle you with prose. Instead, he invites you to sit down and listen. It feels more like you’re bearing witness than reading fiction.
In the end, The Dark Shines Bright is not a story about redemption in the typical sense. It’s quieter than that. It’s about the slow, difficult work of healing. It’s about showing up, again and again, even when you’re not sure it’s worth it. And somehow, in the quiet murk of those conversations, something luminous emerges.
If you’re drawn to character-driven narratives, memoir-style introspection, or stories that explore the human psyche with compassion and grit, this book is worth your time. It’s not a loud book, but it is a brave one. And in a world that often turns away from pain, The Dark Shines Bright reminds us that sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is speak it.
The Dark Shines Bright by Richard A. Henry is now available for purchase via ARPress Bookstore: