AustLit

'Who but Professor Bernice Summerfield, interstellar archaeologist, raconteur, boozer and wit, would get other people to write her autobiography -- albeit under threat of death from two bounty hunters sent by a publisher far too concerned about little things like deadlines?

These stories are an ideal introduction to the life of Bernice Summerfield: falling off cliffs, getting sacrificed to orange pygmies, saving the universe and trying to buy a new frock.

Cliffhanging escapes! Adventure on distant planets! Scones for tea!'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n01.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11.

'Professor Bernice Summerfield, interstellar archaeologist, adventurer, romantic and drinker, has had either one very big life or a number of only slightly smaller ones.

'This anthology contains stories from many times and places across her long career, ranging from the starkly dramatic, through the thrilling, to the hilarious.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n07.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'The Braxiatel Collection has been occupied by the Fifth Axis. This shouldn't have happened: Brax picked this place to be safe, and surely he knows the history of time and space?

Bernice and her friends find themselves living under a military government. Bev joins the resistance. Adrian is thrown into a prison camp for aliens. Jason finds a comfortable little niche for himself in the new administration. Bernice's half-human son, Peter, is now under threat every minute of every day.

Bernice finds herself caught in the middle of the occupation, her old friends, and her desperate need to protect her child.'

Source: Big Finish website (http://www.bigfinish.com/Bernice-Summerfield-Life-During-Wartime). Sighted: 19/5/11

'Fourteen brand-new short stories about Bernice Summerfield (some-time adventurer, even-less-time academic) and her extended "family". There's Jason Kane (ex-husband, ex-buccaneer, ex-author of xeno-porn) and Irving Braxiatel (employer, Renaissance Man, sneaky devil). There's Bev, Adrian, Ms Jones and Peter. There's Hass, the new gardener, just arrived from Mars. There's the invasion of new students. And, inevitably, there's the mysteries, murders, mayhem and major weirdness that happen whenever Benny gets out of bed.

The war is over. The Braxiatel Collection is back to normal. Better than that, people are all making more of an effort ­ to rebuild, to get on, to re-establish the Collection at the forefront of academic excellence. Benny and Jason are back together. Life is good.

It's not going to last, is it?

Soon Benny is up to her eyeballs in strange deaths, sinister cults, peculiar love affairs and a Collection full of people who haven't yet stopped fighting.'

Source: Big Finish website (http://www.bigfinish.com/Bernice-Summerfield-A-Life-Worth-Living). Sighted: 19/5/11

'Late 2562. Bernice Summerfield is 22 and en route to the ruin of Earth. She's young, she's single, she's just got an MA in archaeology. There's a life of adventure in front of her.

And then she meets the half-human, half-lemur Ivo, whose life she'll completely knock sideways.

Late 2607. Professor Bernice Summerfield is... well, she looks nearly 40, but it's difficult to tell what with all the time travel. She's on her way to a funeral, and to meet up with people she's not seen since her 20s.

Ex-husband / current-beau Jason is keen to go with her. Benny never talks about that period of her life -- what she did to keep out of the war, where she travelled, how she survived or who it was broke her heart. She's run through all time and space to avoid this reunion. But the best-selling author of Down Among The Dead Men must finally uncover her own past.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n17.htm). Sighted 27/5/11

'Everybody dies.

'There's a fresh grave on planetoid KS-159, but only Bernice Summerfield seems to have noticed. Her friends on the Braxiatel Collection are too busy with their own affairs to see how distraught she is, how keenly she feels this loss.

'There's no time to grieve. Life must carry on, different and strange as it may be. Benny has a son and a bloke to look after, and a feud with Bev Tarrant to keep up. And she's also got dumped with a new assignment, babysitting some daft experiment.

'Doggles claims his "history machine" will change everything. And the worst thing is that he's right.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n14.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'"It might be your name on the deeds, but you don't belong here any more. This is our home, our collection."

'The Braxiatel Collection. It's a museum, art gallery and academic institute. A home for renowned archaeologists, runaway art thieves and galactic waifs and strays. It's been a private playground and the battlefield in the fight against tyranny. And now things are changing again.

'With the Collection's founder missing, it's up to those left behind to make this place their own. Amidst the chaos of visitors from the far future, dark secrets, old friends and new enemies, Bernice Summerfield must do whatever's necessary to keep the doors open and her family safe. Yet through it all, there's one truth she cannot escape. Braxiatel is gone. And nature abhors a vacuum.'

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/bs_n16.htm). Sighted: 19/5/11

'When the entire galaxy finds itself under attack from the Deindum - a highly advanced but aggressive and paranoid race from the future - Bernice Summerfield and her various friends and colleagues are scattered across space, doing what they can for the war effort.

Bernice makes her way home before heading back into history, searching for knowledge about their adversary and (hopefully) a weapon which might help the cause. Braxiatel, leading a coalition of civilised worlds against the attack, has cause to question his methods. An exhausted Bev runs the Braxiatel Collection as a refugee centre, fearful of an imminent attack. Adrian and Doggles must overcome their shared history and work together, whilst Hass embarks on a dangerous journey through the galaxy's war zones to the heart of the Deindum's new empire.

But will it be enough? What can they do against one of the most daunting enemies that they have ever faced?'

Source: Big Finish Productions (http://www.bigfinish.com/Bernice-Summerfield-Present-Danger). Sighted 19/5/11