Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Dead Men Diaries

Bernice Summerfield Anthologies #1

by Paul Cornell, Kathryn Sullivan, Matthew Jones

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 outfit.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Paul Cornell is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy prose, comics and television. He's been Hugo Award-nominated for all three media, and has won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, and the Eagle Award for his comics. He's the writer of Saucer Country for Vertigo, Demon Knights for DC, and has written for the Doctor Who TV series. His new urban fantasy novel is London Falling, out from Tor on December 6th.

via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...

Reviews

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2785482.html

This was the first of the Bernice Summerfield books published by Big Finish. I'm taking them in publication order, which slightly to my surprise means I am already out of sequence - this is an anthology, but apparently the first novel, which I will read next month, is set earlier. I think it would also be a bit confusing for those not familiar with Benny continuity, as the stories are by old hands riffing off established characters and themes. The standout piece is Stephen Moffat's "The Least Important Man" which features a Blake's 7 fan brought forward to Benny's time; I also enjoyed "Steal from the World" by Kate Orman, about a return to the site of a youthful expedition, and "The Door in to Bedlam" by Dave Stone, which features communication with the exiled Jason. Both "The Light that Never Dies" by Eddie Robson and the final story, "Digging up the Past" by Mark Michalowski, feature movies (or equivalent), a medium that Benny has only fleetingly graced.

[Burrvie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun collection of short stories. I didn't really care for the interlinking material between, and I don't think it really added anything to the book, but the stories themselves were mostly entertaining. The highlights for me were The Light That Never Dies, Step Back in Time, and The Least Important Man. It was also great to recognise some author names from other audio projects, and of course Steven Moffat being one of the highlight stories is not surprising to me.

I think what makes the book stand out is that, as a collection of short stories, all you really get is character work. It's also the first Big Finish release that's been able to actually show us Bernice as a character in her day-to-day life, as opposed to the other releases where she is always reacting to situations, or being heroic. Obviously, this tells us who she is, but it's nice to see our favourite characters on their off-days aswell. I think the need for this balance is why the first story, A Question of Identity resonates with me the way it does, and while it's not the most exciting story, I think it's the perfect choice for start the book with it. Only after this story can we really go on to the adventurous stuff while maintaining a full understanding of who this character is and how she operates.

While not all the stories are the highest quality, they're almost all fun, and each one feels like it is trying to say something, regardless of whether it was successful in doing so. It's probably not a necessary read in the grand scheme of the Bernice Summerfield canon, but it's a nice change of pace and worth putting some time into.

[Clare]

A nice little collection of tales through Bernice's life, varying in tone and style, but all a great step up in quality since the end of the Virgin range. Big Finish clearly care a great deal for the character and that love shines through. There's even one by Steven Moffat. Whatever happened to him?!

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I liked Benny more than I do. The writing is fantastic in this book and so are the stories. But Benny is just insufferable to me. She could be so cool and/or tragic, and just comes across as a crazily flawed, abrasive woman who has no real redeeming qualities.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

#langolobigfinish
L'ANGOLO BIG FINISH: “THE DEAD MEN DIARIES” (Bernice Summerfield, Antologia 1)

Edito da PAUL CORNELL
Autori Vari

Chi se non Bernice Summerfield, archeologa interstellare, aneddotista, spugna e persona di spirito, chiederebbe ad altra gente di scrivere la sua autobiografia – anche se sotto minaccia di morte da due cacciatori di taglie mandati da un editore un po' troppo preoccupato da piccole cose come le scadenze?
Queste storie sono un'introduzione ideale alla vita di Bernice Summerfield: cadere giù da dirupi, venire sacrificata da pigmei arancioni, salvare l'universo e cercare di comprare un abito nuovo.
Fughe all'ultimo secondo! Avventure su lontani pianeti! Tè con biscotti!


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Ritorniamo indietro a parlare del primissimo libro pubblicato dalla Big Finish, che serviva a introdurre la serie di Bernice Summerfield nel momento in cui questa lasciava la Virgin e passava in maniera vera e propria nelle loro mani.
La cornice che lega le storie, scritta da Paul Cornell, parte da un assunto divertente: Benny, che non ha né il tempo né la voglia di scrivere il suo libro ma si ritrova costretta a farlo sotto minaccia di due energumeni, delega ad altri autori di scrivere delle storie su di lei. Quindi in prima persona si limita ad introdurre i racconti.

1. A Question of Identity (Caroline Symcox): Benny, appena arrivata alla Collezione, vuole mettere la testa a posto e diventare un'accademica responsabile. Non è questo il giorno. Brax ha infatti organizzato un party elegante, e Benny metterà a dura prova il suo abito nuovo sventando un furto. Una storia molto carina e divertente.
2. Steal from the World (Kate Orman): Benny ritorna sul sito di una sua vecchia spadizione che non è mai riuscita a portare a termine, ricordando di come fosse caduta da una rupe rompendosi un femore, ma riuscendo a sopravvivere con le sue sole forze. Archeologia mista a survival story.
3. The Light that Never Dies (Eddie Robson): Uno dei miei preferiti. Guardando un film, Benny si rende conto che uno degli alieni ripresi continua a vivere nella pellicola. Un concetto davvero interessante e anche un po' inquietante. Bellissime le interazioni tra Benny e Brax.
4. Heart of Glass (Daniel O'Mahony): Benny viene mandata a contrattare con una società in un palazzo di vetro.
5. The Monster and the Archaeologists (Kathy Sullivan): Benny va ad incontrare una famiglia di archeologi che lavorano ad uno scavo.
6. Step Back in Time (Matt Jones): Può Bernice Summerfield essere più sfortunata in amore di così?
7. Christmas Spirit (Cavan Scott, Mark Wright): Ecco che si festeggia il primo Natale alla Collezione, ma l'umore è rovinato dalla tragedia di uno studente morto e del suo spettro che tormenta il suo migliore amico.
8. The Door into Bedlam (Dave Stone): In tutto e per tutto un prequel di The Infernal Nexus, racconta di Jason nella dimensione demoniaca e di Benny nel vano tentativo di trovarlo.
10. The Least Important Man (Steven Moffat*): In maniera peculiare, questa storia è raccontata dal punto di vista di un ragazzo qualunque del 20° secolo. Già qui si può intravedere il wibbly wobbly di Moffat, con il futuro che va ad influenzare il passato e viceversa. Molto intrigante.
*Questa dovrebbe essere la seconda volta in assoluto che Steven Moffat scrive per il Whoniverse, la prima essendo stata qualche anno prima una short story con il Settimo Dottore e Benny in un'antologia della Virgin.
10. Digging up the Past (Mark Michalowski): Una famosa casa produttrice ha intenzione di realizzare un documentario su Benny, ma quest'ultima non è molto contenta nello scoprire quali siano le clausole del suo contratto.

Nel complesso è un'antologia molto carina, con delle storie che vale la pena leggere.
Non so se per qualcuno che si accinge per la prima volta ad entrare nella serie di Bernice Summerfield senza aver prima letto le VNA sia meglio leggere questo oppure “The Doomsday Manuscript” (il quale, ambientato a Capodanno, dovrebbe collocarsi dopo “Christmas Spirit”). Forse qui la narrazione è un po' troppo frammentata per funzionare bene come introduzione. Ma è un ottimo libro per andare a colmare i vuoti.

[El · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories were better than others. I quite liked the running commentary after each story by Benny herself but felt that the conceit was a little bit silly.

Benny didn't really lend herself to short stories as much as full length novels, and a lot of the stories ended up seeming a bit pointless: Benny showed up, said hello, went home. The End.

I was slightly disappointed with Steven Moffat's contribution, but I think I've probably come to expect too much from him after his superb writing for Doctor Who. His story was quite a good idea but didn't really get chance to get going before it was over.

Braxiatel was also a bit of a convenient plot device in a lot of the stories. Brax presents plot, Benny goes and does adventure, the end.

However, there were some gems: I liked "The Light that Never Dies" - nice idea and neat execution. "The Monster and the Archaeologists" was also great fun.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a brisk, fun read. I particularly enjoyed Kate Orman's "Steal from the World", which brings a rather harrowing tale of survival to a fairly light-hearted collection of stories; Dave Stone's "The Door into Bedlam", which is fairly typical loopy Dave Stone; and Kathryn Sullivan's "The Monster and the Archaeologists" (I always like stories in which Benny actually gets to do archaeology.)

It's also quite fun to see rather early work by future Big Finish stalwarts Eddie Robson (as an undergraduate!), Cavan Scott and Mark Wright.

I wouldn't describe this as essential reading, but if you are a Benny fan, this offers a solid good time.

[Catsalive · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed these stories although Benny doesn't come across as a particularly nice person. Definitely an adventurous person, amusing, forceful, not nasty, but not very nice... self-centred perhaps - she does tend to ride roughshod over anyone in her way. These short stories were a good introduction & I'm hoping I'll get to like Benny more as I read more about her. I would certainly enjoy seeing Emma Thompson play her.