Low Port

Butterfly St. Cyr #0.5 - Riis Run

by Sharon Lee (Editor / Contributor), Steve Miller (Editor), Eric M. Witchey (Contributor)

Ever wonder what really happens on the lower decks of the space ship or in the castle kitchen? This unique collection of original science fiction and fantasy short stories focuses on characters that are normally in the background and brings them to the forefront of the adventure! Low Port features stories by Mark Tiedemann, Laura J. Underwood, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Nathan Archer, Jody Lynn Nye and many others, including a new urban fantasy by Sharon Lee! So come along and meet an orphan with a dream, a dockworker who believes in freedom, a maintenance worker with feelings and visit a soup kitchen with a secret.

Contents:
Voyeur / Eric Witchey --
Digger don't take no requests / John Teehan --
The gate between hope and glory / Holly Phillips --
Riis run / eluki bes shahar --
Bidding the walrus / Lawrence M. Schoen --
The gift / Laura J. Underwood --
The dock to heaven / L.E. Modesitt, Jr. --
Find a pin / Ru Emerson --
Sailing to the temple / Alan Smale --
The pilgrim trade / Mark W. Tiedemann --
More to glory / Patrice Sarath --
Gonna boogie with Granny Time / Sharon Lee --
Angel's kitchen / Chris Szego --
Lair of the lesbian love goddess / Edward McKeown --
Contraband / Nathan Archer --
Spinacre's war / Lee Martindale --
Bottom of the food chain / Jody Lynn Nye --
Zappa for bardog / Joe Murphy --
The times she went away / Paul E. Martens --
Scream angel / Douglas Smith.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Fiction

354 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 2004

About the author

Sharon Lee has been married to her first husband for more than half her lifetime; she is a friend to cats, a member of the National Carousel Association, and oversees the dubious investment schemes of an improbable number of stuffed animals.

Despite having been born in a year of the dragon, Sharon is an introvert. She lives in Maine because she likes it there. In fact, she likes it so much that she has written five novels set in Maine; contemporary fantasy trilogy Carousel Tides, Carousel Sun, Carousel Seas, and mysteries Barnburner and Gunshy.

With the aforementioned first husband, Steve Miller, Sharon has written twenty novels of science fiction and fantasy — many of them set in the Liaden Universe® — and numerous short stories. She has occasionally been an advertising copywriter, a reporter, photographer, book reviewer, and secretary. She was for three years Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc., and was subsequently elected vice president and then president of that organization.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most stories focus on the famous, but this is a collection of stories about those who rarely get their stories told. Some are in the gutter, others are just anonymous workers getting by. The characters & the worlds are great, though.

Table of Contents:
Voyeur by Eric Witchey - horribly accurate addiction tale. The drug was the twist, a neat idea, but I couldn't buy in properly to get the impact. My fault or the author's? 3 stars

Digger Don't Take No Requests by John Teehan - fun character gaming the system to move outward on the fringes. Vaguely reminiscent of Rhysling from the The Green Hills of Earth. 4 stars

The Gate Between Hope & Glory by Holly Phillips - is about a captive work force & to what lengths people can be pushed. 4 stars

Riis Run by Eluki Bes Shahar - had some good elements, but the dialect was too thick. It was real work trying to understand the first person narration. The reasoning for doing the run didn't hold up, which really harmed the story. The end point was good, though. 2.5 stars

Bidding The Walrus by Lawrence M. Schoen was fun, interesting, & well done. Sometimes gifts are a little too good to be true. 3.5 stars

The Gift by Laura J. Underwood had more angst & envy than seemed fit. Didn't really work well for me. It was a fantasy story & otherwise well written. 2.5 stars

The Dock To Heaven by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is what I expected from this anthology. A slick operator in a high tech rat warren. 4 stars

Find A Pin by Ru Emerson was surprisingly good & touching, although neither SF or fantasy. More of a general, every day story. 4 stars

Sailing To The Temple by Alan Smale was another fantasy. I think some of the spiritual point went over my head, but it was well done. 3.5 stars

The Pilgrim Trade by Mark W. Tiedemann is about the dispossessed, people without franchise in a future world that fits well with our own. 5 stars

More To Glory by Patrice Sarath was a weird, scary world. High tech, but low in so many ways. Fairly horrible & well done point. 4 stars

Gonna Boogie With Granny Time by Sharon Lee was another with dialect that was way too thick. Not a bad idea, but poorly executed with the POV change. 1 star

Angel's Kitchen by Chris Szego was a really good fantasy. I did not see the end coming, but it hits hard & made a great point. 5 stars

Lair Of The Lesbian Love Goddess by Edward McKeown was wonderful! With a title like that, it had to crash or fly. Funny & very good. 4 stars

Contraband by Nathan Archer was really interesting. Just how corrupt can a person be? What are the limits? Great idea & setting featuring an anonymous gov't worker. 5 stars

Spinacre's War by Lee Martindale started out very well, but the ending was a bit much. The detritus of the armed forces fitting into the theme of this anthology well. 3.5 stars

Bottom Of The Food Chain by Jody Lynn Nye was just awesome. It fit a couple of huge themes (coming-of-age & winning the lottery) into a low port indeed. 5 stars

Zappa For Bardog by Joe Murphy was weird, but good. It certainly didn't go where I thought it was & the perspective was unique, to say the least. 4 stars

The Times She Went Away by Paul E. Martens was obvious in some ways. A very memorable woman spacer drops by between jobs & time dilation does its thing. Told from a smitten man's point of view. Excellent! 4 stars

Scream Angel by Douglas Smith starts off kind of tacky. It's the old traveling circus gambit, but stick with it. The characters develop along with the story into a super tale. 5 stars

Overall, this was one of the best anthologies I've read in a long time. Highly recommended!

[Kelly Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just wasn't that crazy about this collection. Couple good stories, and quite a few that have only the most tenuous relation to the theme. The ones I liked best were some of the least thematic. Gonna run this one by the used book store, see if it's worth a few cents; if not, it's off to Goodwill. The continuing saga of "There is such a thing as too many books, if you can't walk through your residence without turning sideways."

[Lawrence Schoen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful anthology to be a part of. My only regret is that eluki's story appears directly in front of "Bidding the Walrus;" it's so good that anything that came after it (i.e., mine) pales in comparison.

My thanks to editors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller for including me in such a fine book.

[Al Cormier · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in most short story collections, this was a mixed bag. For the most part the stories were very good. But there were a few that were beyond my simple mind. Even so, I would recommend this book to all of my Sci-Fi loving friends :o)

[Adam Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most collections, this one is neven. There are some great stories and some really blah ones.

[M— · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories structured around the loose theme of life and survival in lower social classes, that is, the beggar at the dregs of the futuristic society, the healer magically tending the local slum, the hacker off-grid at the space station.

I really didn't enjoy this. One or two stories held my interest enough for me to completely read them, but I found the rest terribly dull and skimmed only their first couple pages. Not an anthology I'll seek out again. No stories or authors of particular merit. Still, it wasn't bad enough to earn just one star.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

there were a couple of good stories here. But since I know these aren't main characters if characters at all in series, I am not going to go look for any of these.
there was some real crap in here too. several I didn't even read beyond the first paragraph. wow.

[David Chittenden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection. This book of short stories focuses on those from the underbelly of societies. The various authors do a great job of showing this perspective.

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a couple of short stories in this that I completely loved, but overall I wasn't too bothered about most of the stories.