Port Nowhere is a grimy gritty space station that is home to humans and aliens. It's a little bit like a Babylon 5 in some ways but on an earthier base.

It's a multi-level station with a strict hierarchy, your access being restricted by level according to your clearance. It's a station with some of the highest opulence and dankest dangerous lows.

This book tells tales of Port Nowhere in a series of short tales focusing in turn on several of the residents. We meet master criminals and rich businessmen, we visit the Starview Lounge – the luxurious bar where all the VIPs of the station dine.

We follow the Starview's alien bouncer Bharstus Bhogani as he participates in a licenced series of death matches. We meet a sewage worker who tries to buy his way out of the sewers into riches by means of an illegal drugs deal. And we are treated to installments in the lives of a naïve human cook who has come to Port Nowhere to learn about alien cuisines, we follow the dealings of a space suit dealer and encounter several more folks along the way.

Port Nowhere is a fascinating place. These tales bring the true star of this book (the station itself) to life wonderfully. The nature of this anthology, swapping back and forth between characters gives a good impression of the time lapses between the episodes in the recurring characters' lives, as well as illustrating how all these events are concurrent.

For anyone who is not a fan of anthologies, don't be put of reading this. The format of this book is more of a narrative than a series of separate stories. There is a running theme throughout, a definite sense of progression more akin to a novel than a short story collection.

But in being a series of short stories it also has the benefit of all anthologies, in that it is possible to delve in and read a single story, in a way that is not possible to do with a novel chapter.

The writing styles here are concise and efficient. The authors tell the tales in a precise way, there's no padding here. And this benefits the book greatly. For anyone (and I'm one) who is fed up with many mainstream novels being doorstep-thick this style of writing is a relief.

Every once in awhile you stumble upon something different, something a bit on the odd side, something that makes you sit up and say, "HEY!" As an avid reader, someone who has been reading books at the steady clip of one a week for the past twenty-three years, it isn't very often that I find a book that does exactly that. I've read the masters of science fiction, I've read small press science fiction, I've read mainstream science fiction and I've read cross-genre science fiction...but very rarely have I been able to find a complete Circus-Effect, Oddball, Over-The-Top Roller Coaster of a Carnival Ride as I recently experienced while reading PORT NOWHERE.

This collection of twenty-five inter-related short stories by eight very talented authors finds the reader immersed in the socio-political structure of Port Nowhere, better known as the "Rock." On this "Rock" we find ourselves being introduced to an assortment of colorful characters, a bit of religious mysticism, a good measure of political intrigue, a host of outlandish alien cultures and a fungus that grows on the waste of...well, you get the sordid picture.

Not only are the stories all taking place within the same place, they intermingle story lines and characters that appear in other stories to fit the scenario of the current story as well. All of this makes the reader feel as if they are reading a novel-length work instead of twenty-five short stories written by eight different authors.

The fun of it is simply that the authors had a lot of FUN in writing this book! Their characters find themselves in weird situations, they find themselves in weird places (although all of it takes place on the "Rock"), they find themselves eating strange and exotic foodstuffs (the contents of which shall remain nameless here), they find themselves realizing how hopeless their existence is and they find themselves rising above their hopelessness to strive towards finding a better life on the "Rock" or perhaps, better yet, off of the "Rock. " And all the while they throw intergalactic slang at each other with such ease that it all works for the reader, too.

For aliens you have the Purple Halsans, the furry Vamir, the tiny thieving Bansnicts, the short working-class Nicovans (better known as Neeks), the snake-like Ophidia, the bird-like L'Taltons, the strong and scaly Modajai, the plant-like Sloygat, the gelatinous Rewtem, the flat-headed Fwazek, the aquatic Uffus and many more—each with their own peculiar customs and history. Mix them together with the richest human (also called a Sape) on the "Rock," Rudof Dyll, outlaw pirate Malik Blayne, Envirosuit Salesman Charlie Manus, the young tunnel dweller Tau, wannabe chef Jule Emyril and Consolidated Guard Captain Carle Eversyn and you have a grouping of some of the most animated and colorful characters that I've ever seen gathered together all in one place.

I enjoyed this collection of Port Nowhere short stories very much, particularly those involving the various alien cultures. From a Blood-Sport known as Kovindi Fighting to the strangely violent religious rituals of the Circle of the Beryl, this book kept me turning pages quickly and quite happily until I reached the end. I was even more pleased to see the words, "Not The End," printed on the very last page—leading me to believe that there will be more volumes in the PORT NOWHERE Saga. For fans of outlandish, bizarre and just plain old FUN science fiction, I heartily recommend this book. It's an eye-opening trip to the outer reaches of the galactic spiral that provides a very colorful look at a place in our future where no one wants to go yet so many seem to find their way to. When you get the chance, make a visit to Port Nowhere...but you might plan on staying awhile—once there, nobody finds it easy to get off the "Rock".

Synopsis
A deadly planetoid on the very edge of the galaxy, inhabited by the dregs of a hundred species that swarm in its endless tunnels; that's Port Nowhere, a.k.a. the Rock. Join the Rock & Rolling residents as they deal with danger, hunger, murder, disease and Sha'zreen! Meet Rudof Dyll, scion of the richest family in the galaxy, exiled to the Rock for crimes unknown; Malik Blayne, tortured, relentless, and determined to save his friends, if he can figure out who they are; Tau the Silent, a Human boy reared by aliens, now orphaned by the loss of his tribe; Charlie Manus, Protectaire's best envirosuit salesman, who wonders what the feek he's doing on the Rock; and Sha'zreen Glowberreez, Port Nowhere's most famous vidstar; who'd do simply anything for better ratings; Doctre VanSlyke, for whom the Rock is an endless supply of spare body parts; Mik'Amr, a local who finds working for the Connies less than ideal; Jesse Iresson, a dealer in questionable merchandise, searching for truth, but he'd settle for a way off the Rock; Raeyn Banks, on the run from a past that haunts her, to a future that's looking ever darker.  Come visit Port Nowhere,the planetoid to avoid!

Stories Featured Include
K.G. McAbee - UNDERWORLD
Jim Johnson - SIMIKUS GIFF
Diane Thompson - RECYCLING THE DEAD
Richard C. Meehan Jr. - ERR ONLY ON THE SIDE OF AIR
Elaine Corvidae - HERE BE DRAGONS
Steve Thompson - THE LITTLE SLEEP