Bernice Summerfield: A Life Worth Living

A short story anthology, edited by Simon Guerrier. Fourteen 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. Spend a whole year with Benny! The stories are: Misplaced Spring by Paul CornellWelcome to the Machine by Sin DenizFinal Draft by Cameron MasonAgainst Gardens by Eddie RobsonA Summer Affair by Joseph LidsterDenial by Ian MondSex Secrets of the Robot Replicants by Philip Purser-HallardThe Blame of the Nose by Ben WoodhamsReparation by Gregg SmithNothing up my Sleeve by Richard SalterBuried Alive by Kate OrmanThere Never Need be Longing in your Eyes by Ian FarringtonMentioning the War by Nick WaltersFragments by Stewart Sheargold