Cirrus@Austlit

'Here in Sydney, a siren city lying between the ocean and concrete towers, there are a lot of cafes and pubs. So many. And here too, these places guard the soul of the city, its merits and its defects.

The poems that make up the ‘Sydney Collection’ do not always speak of the physical places mentioned in the title and are almost never just descriptive of venues, parks or streets. No. Mostly, the places are containers … the cups or bottles of emotions discovered, observed, heard, lived or just imagined in those places. And often even written there, in the midst of the fretting of everyday life.

This collection pays tribute to a city that has become a second home for me. It describes the city’s soul. Its life. Even its dark side.' (Source: Author's introduction)

'Themes of the sea and the emotions, particularly the deeply felt joys and melancholies experienced by men, are a touchstone of this author’s work and are found again in Night Road to Life.

Ferdinando Manzo’s thoughts are not bound to fluidity; they fly to the greatest heights of exhilaration in poems such as, The sky above us, which displays ‘a mantle of stars that burns in my heart’ and in the evocative lines of Eclipse: ‘the moon rose, bright between the eyelids of the night’. Even the constellation Andromeda is given due recognition, breaking her chains and ready for revenge, before another poem The voice of the universe explores ‘a hidden legend as far away as waves in outer space’.

A distinctive quality of this collection of poems is its musicality – the sounds of words carefully chosen, and their rhythms. The pleasing effect of the sensuality of sounds, ranging from gentleness to the drama of sex, is in tune with the gamut of human emotion.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'An exciting new story from first-time novelist, Ferdinando Manzo, Arco explores man's battle with the sea in an attempt to seek solace. The story is set in two different eras: on the high seas among ancient pirates and in contemporary Europe ravaged by war. The legend of the blue vortex - a door into another world - is the central focus of both periods. An adventure story, it also raises philosophical questions about love and the purpose of life. Commander Arco is at the centre of the search for the blue vortex as legend has it he was the only man who ever found it. Those who follow him are drawn to re-enact the legendary search for eternal life. The narrator, devastated by the loss of his lover, tells a tale of suspense and intrigue as he attempts to recover his lost love. ' (Publication summary)