Synopsis

SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY

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.

Spend a whole year with Benny!

The Stories:

Misplaced Spring
Paul Cornell

Welcome to the Machine
Sin Deniz

Final Draft
Cameron Mason

Against Gardens
Eddie Robson

A Summer Affair
Joseph Lidster

Denial
Ian Mond

Sex Secrets of the Robot Replicants
Philip Purser-Hallard

The Blame of the Nose
Ben Woodhams

Reparation
Gregg Smith

Nothing up my Sleeve
Richard Salter

Buried Alive
Kate Orman

There Never Need be Longing in your Eyes
Ian Farrington

Mentioning the War
Nick Walters

Fragments
Stewart Sheargold

Written By: Editor: Simon Guerrier