Breaking through the inky night: On trivial yet deadly serious matters

By Martin Smallridge

Breaking Through the Inky Night isn't just a collection of essays; it's a reckoning, a hard stare into the half-light of history, memory, and the spectral weight of our humanity. Martin Smallridge lays bare the odd pulse of existence, where the so-called trivial beats alongside matters of mortal gravity. Each line feels edged, almost breath-held, as he circles those vexing truths we carry beneath our skin-unresolved, ever muttering.

Through a voice that seems to both court and defy darkness, Smallridge crafts essays that veer through the landscapes of a world still bruised from its own upheavals. He captures memory as if it's something one could bruise, too. From the cold echoes of Eastern Europe's political wars to the haunting imprint of a childhood that refuses to fade into nostalgia, he weaves a narrative of relentless questions, sometimes wry, sometimes raw. This isn't about answers-it's about staying with the question itself, feeling the unsteady terrain of conscience and meaning beneath each sentence.

In Breaking Through the Inky Night, Smallridge doesn't simply observe or analyze; he wrestles with life's paradoxes, peeling away any semblance of safety. Here, thought becomes almost tactile, each phrase insistent, as if by writing he's driven to pierce a veil between now and then, between self and world. This is a work that beckons to those who find courage not in certainty but in the unvarnished act of looking, remembering, and facing the soul's quiet, unbroken night.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B094TG1P6W
• ISBN13: 9798503858525
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 126 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"