Digging Up the Past
in Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Dead Men Diaries
Digging Up the Past
in Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Dead Men DiariesEdited: Paul Cornell
Publisher: Big Finish Productions
September 2000
ISBN: 1903654009
Professor Bernice Summerfield ('Benny' to her friends) is a spin-off character from the Doctor Who books, originally one of the Doctor's travelling companions. When her creator, Paul Cornell, decided to work with Big Finish to bring out a range of books based on the character, I was asked to contribute a short story for the anthology that kicked off the series - and was dead chuffed to have Digging Up The Past accepted.
As my first piece of paid-for fiction, I'll always be very proud of it.
To find out more about the Benny books and Big Finish, click here.
Online Reviews
My third favourite story, Michalowski's, could well have been the highlight of the anthology. As it is, it's a nice little story - and one that's actually about a recognisable Benny - but I feel there was so much more potential here. I don't want to appear critical of what there was, but I would have liked to have seen more made of the parallels between Benny and Lara Croft, of the metafictional parallels between Benny's contract and the tribulations of Benny in fiction: with Who under Virgin, a standalone series, this re-launch with Big Finish. (And it's slightly embarrassing to pick Emma Thompson as Benny's synthespian replacement in the light of the use of Lisa Bowerman.) It's a shame Michalowski seems to have been constrained by the word count: he deserved extra space more than most of the stories! 8/10
Henry Potts
http://www.bondegezou.demon.co.uk/reviews/deadmendiaries.htm
Benny's life is about to become a television series, and when Benny discovers she has inadvertantly agreed to the terms and conditions of the contract, Benny does some research into the head of InterMedia, one Layla Field. Mark Michalowski has written what I consider to be the best story in the collection, due to the prose style, story and excellent characterisation. More from this man please! 10/10
http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/forbidden/392/reviews/bna24.html