"Voyeur" by Eric M. Witchey
"Digger Don't Take No Requests" by John Teehan
"The Gate Between Hope and Glory" by Holly Philips
"Riis Run" by eluki bes shahar
"Bidding The Walrus" by Lawrence M. Schoen
"The Gift" by Laura J. Underwood
"The Dock to Heaven" by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
"Find a Pin" by Ru Emerson
"Sailing to the Temple" by Alan Smale
"The Pilgrim Trade" by Mark W. Tiedemann
"More to Glory" by Patrice Sarath
"Gonna Boogie With Granny Time" by Sharon Lee
"Angel's Kitchen" by Chris Szego
"Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess" by Edward McKeown
"Contraband" by Nathan Archer
"Spinacre's War" by Lee Martindale
"Bottom of the Food Chain" by Jody Lynn Nye
"Zappa for Bardog" by Joe Murphy
"The Times She Went Away" by Paul E. Martens
"Scream Angel" by Douglas Smith

Low Port is an anthology of original short stories edited by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The stories are set within the ghettos and slums of future worlds, the "low ports" if you will, of the title. These are not high-minded moral tales of great heroes such as those written by Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. Instead, these are gritty tales from the seamier side of the future.

First up is an oddly unfocused tale entitled "Voyeur" by Eric M. Witchey. Andre is an addict near the end of his existence, living on the margins of a space based society. Sadly, this tale strains my willing suspension of disbelief, in that it asks us to accept that Andrea has given up job, family and even food to obtain something as common as air here on Earth.

"Digger Don't Take No Requests" by John Teehan is a more engaging adventure of the young panhandler and black marketeer scratching out an existence on an earth orbiting space station. He makes his living playing music for spare change on the public concourses, and buying and selling items of questionable legality from those passing through the station. But the real story here is this young man's drive to travel to strange new worlds. As such, the story succeeds marvelously, showing us how even the untalented, uneducated souls cursed with wanderlust can still find their way.

"The Gate Between Hope and Glory" by Holly Philips is a darker tale focusing on the plight of the downtrodden workers of the future. The repair crews on this commercial space station are little more than slaves, lacking fair employment statutes or unions. When some crews attempted to organize some years back, their employers simply opened the airlocks to deep space. But Awandi and her brother have stumbled across the technology of their masters that gives them near godlike qualities. Dared they use it?

"Riis Run" by eluki bes shahar is an unsatisfying vignette about a young female trader making a deep space run that resembles nothing so much as the Viking "trading" voyages of centuries past. She transports goods for anyone willing to pay her price, with no questions asked. But this tale relies far too much on a self- aware machine that solves all the difficult problems with little or no effort on the protagonist's part. All the story gives is an interesting taste of this side of life, but it reaches no conclusions.

"Bidding The Walrus" by Lawrence M. Schoen is an entertaining tale about the breakneck, ragged life on the edge of a custom Cybernetics company. Walrus Gideon sells custom robots designed by his schizophrenic genius engineer employee and built by his robotic assemblers. The problem is that he has a number of competitors all vying for the same business, leaving deadlines short and profit margins razor thin. Added to that is the request of an alien creature for Walrus to build a complement of the illegal robots, having the capacity for some level of self- awareness. All in all, this is a fun little tale with a surprising twist at the end that had me laughing.

"The Gift" by Laura J. Underwood is a substantial departure from the format of this anthology, as it is a Celtic fantasy rather than a science-fiction tale, a hallmark of Ms. Underwood's stories. Brother Rhys is a member of a religious order that ministers to the poor and downtrodden in the slums of Caer Elenthorn. As he tends to the needs of the homeless and destitute, he comes upon the orphaned daughter of a prostitute. What is remarkable is that she has the true gift of magical healing, something he desperately wanted himself but lacks. And so he must address his own jealousy even as he struggles to guide this streetwise urchin away from crime and degradation.

"The Dock to Heaven" by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is probably the best drawn tale of this anthology, in terms of its setting. Mario is a street dealer specializing in buying and selling information on a deep space transfer station. The station is run by the Angels, humans from a planet so technologically advanced that everything about them seems Heaven sent. When one of the Angels is kidnapped, they turn to Mario for help in locating their comrade. It is here, in this interface between Mario and his world, and that of the Angels', where this tale shines.

"Find a Pin" by Ru Emerson is another unfocused vignette about life as a street person in the future. Left homeless by poverty and mental illness, we follow the protagonist and her mother through their day. The setting is clear, but the characters and their motivations left me cold.

"Sailing to the Temple" by Alan Smale is an overly long tale about a Buddhist monk traveling the rivers of Japan with an elderly matron. They spend a lengthy journey engaged in philosophical discussion about the nature of evil and one's duty to fight against it. An example is offered, but is more of a morality tale designed to justify the protagonist's beliefs than a plot twist.

"The Pilgrim Trade" by Mark W. Tiedemann follows the sad adventures of a futuristic homeless family on the move, akin to the dispossessed during the great Depression. Tussig, age 12, is left behind after he kills a city guard in self-defense. Knowing the fate that awaits one such as this young lad, another city worker intercedes.

In "More to Glory" by Patrice Sarath, Randy is a member of a street gang roaming the tunnels and caves of an underground spaceport. He is uneducated and his family is poor, leaving him with few prospects for the future. But he and his friends happen upon the early stages of and ecological disaster, saving the day. A nice enough tale, if somewhat pat.

"Gonna Boogie With Granny Time" by Sharon Lee is the only tale by the editor in this volume, and the best in this anthology. The narrator is a streetsmart hustler living in a futuristic Las Vegas-type city. In his own street jargon, he tells us the tale of the stupid white boy who earns the wrath of one of the bosses by raping the boss's woman. The stupid white boy knows that his future will include such nasties as broken bottles and cattle prods, so he goes to Mouse Mojo for a way off planet. But Mouse Mojo is no fool. He helps the white boy escape using a space/time transporter, but makes sure the white boy's destination is fitting to his crimes.

"Angel's Kitchen" by Chris Szego is another morality tale I found too pat. Angel runs a soup kitchen sponsored by a church in the heart of the slums. Two rival gangs rule this area, the Canes and the Haps. Each gang controls a block of territory and maintains order within their turf. The difficulty I have is that this is all a hoax Angel and the gang leaders have put together to maintain law and order in this impoverished sector. When the real desperados appear, we're given the contrast between the rival gangs and real ones.

"Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess" by Edward McKeown is a delightful tongue in cheek story masquerading as a hard-boiled police drama. Brian is the old gruff street detective breaking in his new partner, a pretty young eager beaver lady. They are hot on the trail of an alien they suspect is in the process of smuggling illegal sex toys to his home planet. Under interplanetary law, NYPD must prevent this, leading Brian and Regina through strip clubs and peep shows in pursuit of the felon.

"Contraband" by Nathan Archer was a dissatisfying tale about an interstellar customs agent who tries to do "the right thing" even as he makes sure his palms are well greased with bribe money. The story is well written, but failed to convince me that this fellow honestly believed he had successfully straddled the fence between moral correctness and financial self-interest.

"Spinacre's War" by Lee Martindale is another study of the contrast between greedy self-interest and moral correctness. Commander Spinacre is exiled to a backwater planet to oversee a third-rate spaceport surrounded by slums. For reasons that are never made clear, he abandons a group of disabled war veterans in the slums with the expectation that the residents will murder them wholesale. He then uses this as a pretext for a full military assault on the slum. Of course, the residents and the veterans have joined forces, led by the prostitute with a heart of gold, and turn the tables on the evil commander. A nice premise, but I came away totally unconvinced by any of the characters.

"Bottom of the Food Chain" by Jody Lynn Nye was a more interesting, and more realistic portrayal of life at the bottom rung of society. Hap is a sewer worker living in the slums of the space station. He finds a lost item of fabulous value, and presents it and himself for the reward promised by the station's owners. And we see the disaster as it looms, much like those who win the lottery that destroys their life with wealth. How he solve the problem is wonderful.

"Zappa for Bardog" by Joe Murphy is a wonderful piece of nonsense told from the point of view of a genetically designed sentient vacuum cleaner. It cleans the floors and parking lot of a local rock-and-roll club where aliens who have conquered Earth seek their holy grail. Unfortunately, they view the rock legends of the '60s like Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix as religious icons. This all told through the eyes of a creature who has no concept of human or even alien behavior.

"The Times She Went Away" by Paul E. Martens is a poignant tale about the great space traveler Annie Jones and the man she leaves behind. Given the time dilation effects of space travel, we watch as she returns over and over to find Peter change from innocent adolescent to virile man to middle-aged citizen to failing elder. How they have shaped each other's lives is compelling.

Last in the anthology is "Scream Angel" by Douglas Smith. The story centers about the bizarre interdependencies created by the corporate powers-that-be when they use the biological secretions of an alien race to make addicts of their security forces, even as the soldiers conquer and suppress the aliens. The story has so many layers that I'm still sorting them out. And like an onion, I'm not sure if I'll ever find the final layer. Low Port is due out for publication in September. I recommend it to you.

Jim Reichert has been a reviewer for Tangent for many years. He's a government lawyer specializing in the field of child abuse prosecutions, and lives with his wife and family in a rural area of southern Delaware. He's been an avid fan of speculative fiction all his life, and has been writing short stories and novels for 5-10 years on a sporadic basis. His fiction has been published most recently in Dark Matter Chronicles, Nova SF and Nth Degree magazine.