Bernice Summerfield Novels

Series · 12

books · 2005-2013

By Lance Parkin, Stephen Cole, Ben Aaronovitch, and more

Books in series

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Doomsday Manuscript

2005

The Doomsday Manuscript is the he key to finding the Lost Tomb of Rablev. Legend says that if the tomb is ever opened, the world will end. With the party to celebrate the opening of the Braxiatel Collection and the new year still underway, Benny finds herself drawn into a web of mystery and intrigue that starts with death and gets more serious at every stage. Can she find the second half of the Doomsday Manuscript before it falls into the wrong hands? Can she trust her partner in the quest? What will she find on the planet Kasagrad, the location of the Lost Tomb of Rablev? And can she squeeze in another drink at Joseppi's—the favorite haunt of black marketeers, spies, counterfeiters, Fifth Axis officers, and desperate archaeologists—before the end of the world?

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Gods of the Underworld

2005

There's a whisper going round that the long-lost temple of the Argian Gods of the Underworld has finally been discovered on the planet Venedel. There's a still quieter whisper that deep inside it lies the Argian Oracle, an ancient artifact that can pinpoint the whereabouts of any soul in the universe. Benny Summerfield sets out to see if the whispers are true—and to see if it can tell her the whereabouts of her missing lover. She's got nothing to lose. Reaching Venedel, Benny finds it under siege from an over-zealous Federation, alleging human rights atrocities and starving the planet out until its people capitulate to its terms. Despite this, a team of Nishtubi mercenaries are running the blockade to supply aid for the Venedelans. But why? They have nothing to gain. Caught between jingoistic natives, Nishtubi heavies, a plague of ancient killers, and the cold, undying secrets of the Gods of the Underworld, Benny and her allies have nowhere to run—and are left facing nothing but trouble.

Professor Bernice Summerfield and The Squire's Crystal

2005

Legend tells of an evil sorceress who used the power of magical crystals to transfer her mind into the bodies of others. Her reign of terror was long and bloody, and her final defeat the cause of great rejoicing. But that's just a legend, a story told to childrenisn't it? Finding the last resting place of the Crystal Sorceress is an archaeological dream on a par with discovering the Holy Grail. So it's hardly likely that someone will just offer the solution to Professor Bernice Summerfield on a plate. But sometimes the unlikely actually happens. And one thing that's very, very unlikely is that Benny will suddenly find herself to be a member of the opposite gender!

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Infernal Nexus

2005

Acting on an abstruse tip-off from the reknowned paraphysiologist Dr Rupert Gilhooly, Bernice Summerfield has found herself on a probe-ship heading deep into the Problematic Heart of the galaxy—not knowing what, or quite who, she might find. What she finds is Station Control. A place that exists, simultaniously, in 417 dimensions, a brawling, souk-like Nexus between every world that can, or has, or ever will be. And one of those dimensions is Hell. Bernice knows nothing of the rivalries and power-plays going on here. So she blunders right into them and makes a complete hash of everything, natch.

Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Glass Prison

2005

Don't ever annoy the Fifth Axis. They might throw you into the Glass Prison on Deirbhile and then throw away the key. Once you're inside, there's nowhere to hide. They can see your every movement. They control you. You're going to be watched for the rest of your life, wherever you go, whoever you are. Even if you're a professor of archaeology. Even if you're a friend of the famous Irving Braxiatel, and you've written several popular coffee-table books. Even if you're pregnant, and your baby's due any day now. But, of course, they know all about your baby. And they're planning to take it away. That is, unless the loony cultists you're locked up with don't get it first.

The Big Hunt

2005

Professor Bernice Summerfield is enjoying a break. A break from work, a break from the rebuilding of the Braxiatel Collection and a break from Jason, Adrian and even her beloved Peter. She feels she's entitled to a bit of downtime. So, why won't anyone leave her alone? Before long, she's being sent off after an old space artefact only to crashland on a planet apparently devoid of life. Devoid of life, that is, except for the robotic animals, big game hunters and ruthless corporate administrators of the type she's learned to know and mistrust. Benny realises that to survive she must join in on what might be the most dangerous 'game' she's ever played…

The Tree of Life

2005

This book is set in Big Finish Productions' Professor Bernice Summerfield series. Bernice Summerfield appears in many original New Adventures of Doctor Who novels, as well as short stories and other fiction. What's the most famous archaeologist in the sector to do when she receives an uninformative message from a woman she hardly remembers on a planet she's never heard of? Go and investigate, of course! But the unending, unyielding jungle on Tollip's World doesn't make it easy. Nor does the paranoia around the research team's mysterious discoveries there. Before long, Benny's under attack from humans, long-dead aliens and unpleasant fungal infections. What happened on Tollip's World 8,000 years ago? What's the origin of the electrical discharges beneath the surface of the planet? Why is there a greenhouse in the middle of a jungle? And what are the Trees of Life? Could the secrets of Tollip's World mean the extinction of humanity?

Genius Loci

2006

This book is set in Big Finish Productions' Professor Bernice Summerfield series. Bernice Summerfield appears in many original New Adventures of Doctor Who novels, as well as short stories and other fiction. One day she will bring down empires and decide the fate of the universe. One day she will be feared by the creatures of evil and revered wherever people have had just a little bit too much to drink. But all that is yet to come… Right now Bernice Summerfield is 21 years old and living hand to mouth and drink to drink. Offered a job beyond her qualifications she is lured out to the backwater planet of Jaiwan where nothing has ever happened - ever. There she joins a disparate team of archaeologists who have just discovered that the planet of Jaiwan may have been just a tad more interesting than people thought. This could be Benny's big break and her ticket to a proper career in archaeology. That's if archaeology doesn't kill her first.

The Two Jasons

2007

This book is set in Big Finish Productions' Professor Bernice Summerfield series. Bernice Summerfield appears in many original New Adventures of Doctor Who novels, as well as short stories and other fiction. 'Oh bloody hell,' she snapped. 'Listen: me no wantee good time jig-jig all same, okay?' When Bernice Summefield first met Jason Kane, she failed to spot his many fine qualities and assets. Over the course of many subsequent adventures, including marriage and divorce, she continued not to see them… 'You're not Jason,' she said. 'Who the hell are you?' When Bernice Summerfield first met Jason Kane 2, he was disguised as a critic of the work of Jason Kane. Benny saw through his false moustache and literary pretensions, and had him and his other clones expelled into space, there to make their own fortunes. One Jason Kane was, she felt, rather more than enough. Now something is astir in the universe, a plot that threatens Benny and all she holds dear. If she stands any chance at all, she needs all the Jason Kanes she can get… Dave Stone is the creator of Jason Kane, and author of more than 20 novels. As a bonus, this book reprints the short story 'Sex Secrets of the Robot Replicants' by Philip Purser-Hallard.

#10

The Weather on Versimmon

2012

Inveigled into a survey of botanical art on Versimmon, Bernice is disappointed to get bogged down in an unseasonal cold spell – and to discover that Ruth has some radical ideas about how the living archive should be managed. Why is a hailstorm bringing back memories of a war two generations gone? Where are Versimmon’s first animals appearing from? And who can Bernice trust on a planetfull of budding artists? As the forest world is bombarded by ice and the collection’s guards start disappearing, the archaeologists and themselves getting back to their roots and branching out into local politics. All the time, the weather on Versimmon is changing, and its inhabitants will and that revolutionary times demand revolutionary works of art…

#11

The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis

2012

It wasn’t true that you could see the Cats from space. It was impossible, a ridiculous idea that wouldn’t stand up to even the slightest examination. And yet there were people on Bubastis who believed it... Most archaeologists – including Professor Bernice Summerfield – know only two facts about Bubastis: one is that its cheerless swamps are home to five giant stone Cats, whose ancient origins are shrouded in mystery; the other that it has more bugs and beetles than anyone should ever have to deal with. So when Bernice, Ruth and Jack arrive on the planet to search for a missing girl, they are unprepared for what they will find. Like the insectoid villagers with a decidedly squeamish attitude to mammals. Or the archaeological expedition made up of over-sexed students. Or the alarmingly unprofessional Neon Tsara... To make matters worse, Jack suddenly finds himself on the wrong side of the law and Ruth has brain-ache from ingesting forbidden historical knowledge. Worse still, Bernice has promised to write a book of poetry that's due to be published in a week... and she can't think of anything to rhyme with 'Bubastis.'

#12

Filthy Lucre

2013

Money makes the world go round, as can a few too many strong drinks. But when Benny, in a fit of sobriety, agrees to do a pre-Advent favour for Irving Braxiatel, little does she suspect that a bit of corporate schmoozing with a fast food magnate is going to lead her into the biggest spin she's experienced for a very long time. In a whistle-stop tour of frontier planets, she encounters mysterious burials, guns and swords, legs and claws, lost treasure, mortal combat, conspiracy, stomach-churning posh nosh and a little man called Perkin. Oh, and love and war, again. Meanwhile, Jack has to tackle possibly the most irritating computer virus ever created, and Ruth must clamber through the bowels of a crashed ship with 'The Man With The Vulpine Tattoo’. And this was supposed to be the holiday season?

Authors

Ben Aaronovitch's career started with a bang writing for Doctor Who, subsided in the middle and then, as is traditional, a third act resurgence with the bestselling Rivers of London series. Born and raised in London he says that he'll leave his home when they prise his city out of his cold dead fingers.

Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range. He has also written for television, contributing to Five's soap opera Family Affairs. He is also the author of a series of crime novels for children about the Invisible Detective, and novels for older children. His Doctor Who novel The Burning was placed sixth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of 2000.

Jacqueline Rayner is a best selling British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Her first professional writing credit came when she adapted Paul Cornell's Virgin New Adventure novel Oh No It Isn't! for the audio format, the first release by Big Finish. (The novel featured the character of Bernice Summerfield and was part of a spin-off series from Doctor Who.) She went on to do five of the six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations and further work for Big Finish before going to work for BBC Books on their Doctor Who lines. Her first novels came in 2001, with the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel EarthWorld for BBC Books and the Bernice Summerfield novel The Squire's Crystal for Big Finish. Rayner has written several other Doctor Who spin-offs and was also for a period the executive producer for the BBC on the Big Finish range of Doctor Who audio dramas. She has also contributed to the audio range as a writer. In all, her Doctor Who and related work (Bernice Summerfield stories), consists of five novels, a number of short stories and four original audio plays. Rayner has edited several anthologies of Doctor Who short stories, mainly for Big Finish, and done work for Doctor Who Magazine. Beyond Doctor Who, her work includes the children's television tie-in book Horses Like Blaze. With the start of the new television series of Doctor Who in 2005 and a shift in the BBC's Doctor Who related book output, Rayner has become, along with Justin Richards and Stephen Cole, one of the regular authors of the BBC's New Series Adventures. She has also abridged several of the books to be made into audiobooks. She was also a member of Doctor Who Magazine's original Time Team.