Bernice Summerfield: Collected Works

Collected Works came about when then new Bernice Summerfield supremo Simon Gurrier decided he wanted the author of one of the hottest BBC books for years to edit a new short story collection. Sadly, that wasn't me but Nick Wallace, author of Fear Itself. But Nick did ask me for some ideas for stories, and liked one of them enough to commission me.

Ever since Bernice left the Doctor and teamed up with Big Finish, she'd been living on a planetoid owned by Irving Braxiatel. The planetoid houses the museum The Collection, and an ever-expanding cast of supporting characters. When he was asked what he thought the next Benny collection should do, Nick suggested that these characters hadn't been foregrounded as often as they might, and Collected Works was born.

The original idea for my story was that the Cybermen had infected part of the Collection to create a blister universe where millions upon millions of Cybermen would be created. Nick said that was silly, quite rightly, but honed the idea back to its basics and that became my story, Mother's Ruin.

I'm stupidly proud of being part of this book, since it collects some of the best writers ever to put pen to paper in the name of Doctor Who to create a book that works as individual stories and as a novel in itself. And the cover is based on a scene from my story.