Tears of the Oracle (novel)

 is the twentieth Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures novel.

It is a return to the "main narrative" after the two previous novels, which went down different avenues. Irving Braxiatel, Clarence and Chris Cwej return.

Publisher's summary
"Benny, you're ill. Let us help you. We want to help you. Really we do. This paranoia. These delusions. What you've done — it's driven you insane. Nobody wants to hurt you. We're your friends."

On Dellah, the shattered former home of Bernice Summerfield, only the Advanced Research centre survives — the last remnant of the once famous university. But it's under siege from fanatical groups of religious inquisitors, searching for new converts or dangerous heretics.

Benny would have to be mad to go back.

Jason Kane, Bernice's one-time husband and all-time opportunist, has found the ancient remains of the Oracle of the Lost on an obscure planetoid known only as KS-159. Or so he says.

Benny would have to be mad to believe him.

The mysterious Irving Braxiatel is looking for somewhere quiet to house his huge collection of... everything.

Benny would have to be mad to suggest KS-159.

The Oracle of the Lost, legend says, can answer any question. But the cryptic answers she gives are never helpful, and often dangerous.

Benny would have to be mad to reawaken her. Or ask a question. Or believe the answer.

Chapter titles

 * 1) Finale (1)
 * 2) An Account of a Meeting of the Funding Council of the Colloquian Museum of Ancient Artefacts
 * 3) Conversations
 * 4) Faith Healing
 * 5) Storage Facility X One Nine
 * 6) Transcript of a Lecture by Professor Edward Watkinson at the Colloquian University (Extract)
 * 7) Communication
 * 8) A Plea for Help
 * 9) Finale (2)
 * 10) Rescue and Survival
 * 11) Escape and Death
 * 12) A Visitor
 * 13) Jason's Story
 * 14) Mikelz's Message to Watkinson from the Delfus-Orestes Expedition (Extract)
 * 15) A Gamble
 * 16) Arrivals
 * 17) Extract from the Diary of Bernice Summerfield
 * 18) Departure
 * 19) Recollections of Divson Follett
 * 20) Excavations and Discoveries
 * 21) The Oracle of the Lost
 * 22) Finale (3)
 * 23) Post-Mortem
 * 24) Mikelz's Second Message to Watkinson (Fragment)
 * 25) Heat Seeking
 * 26) Report of Captain Riva Gordenski, Duty Officer Extraction Unit Five, Cavanora System - 11 September, 2515 (Extract)
 * 27) Links
 * 28) Gregor's Log (Extract)
 * 29) Correspondence of Louisa Mikelz (Fragment)
 * 30) Questions
 * 31) Merely Players
 * 32) Diagnosis
 * 33) Anomaly
 * 34) Research
 * 35) Extract from Living Archaeology, the Biography of Edward Watkinson, by Herve Pottle
 * 36) Conversation
 * 37) The Oracle's Story
 * 38) The Ship
 * 39) Visual Log
 * 40) Evidence
 * 41) Guilt
 * 42) Finale (4)
 * 43) Discovery
 * 44) Changes
 * 45) Answers
 * 46) Contacts
 * 47) Paracletes
 * 48) Personal Journal of Professor Edward Watkinson (Extract)
 * 49) Personal Journal of Ableet Gorvalis (Extract)
 * 50) Background Reading
 * 51) Transcript of Watkinson's Final Lecture (Extract)
 * 52) Observations and Arrivals
 * 53) Freedom of Information
 * 54) Identity Crisis
 * 55) In the House of God
 * 56) Confrontation
 * 57) The Tears of the Oracle
 * 58) Showdown
 * 59) Preoccupations
 * 60) Last Message to God
 * 61) Data Input
 * 62) Sanctuary
 * 63) Simulation
 * 64) Poisoned Chalice
 * 65) Finale (5)
 * 66) Fallout
 * 67) Question and Answer
 * 68) Closure

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Clarence
 * Divson Follet
 * Emilia Winston
 * Hayward Denson
 * Chris Cwej
 * God
 * J-Kibb
 * B-Aaron
 * Skutloid
 * Drexton
 * Garshal
 * Oracle of the Lost
 * Oleg Mikelz
 * Louisa Mikelz
 * Gregor

Locations

 * Braxiatel wins KS-159 in a card game on Vega Station.

Species

 * Skutloid, Drexton and Garshal are Ice Warriors.

Time travel

 * Lack of telepathy hinders the People in mastering successful time travel.

Titles and offices

 * Bernice holds the Watkinson Chair of Archaeology, named in honour of Edward Watkinson.

Continuity

 * Braxiatel uses a communication cube to contact his people for assistance in the same way the Second Doctor does in TV: The War Games.
 * Chris was exposed to the lethal dose of radiation in PROSE: Dead Romance.
 * Benny mentions getting a Mary-Sue. (PROSE: The Mary-Sue Extrusion)
 * PROSE: Demontage features the Vega Station.
 * There is a brief revisit to Benny's wedding in PROSE: Happy Endings.
 * !C-Mel (the ship Clarence once was) first appeared in PROSE: The Also People.
 * When discussing his imminent regeneration of Chris Cwej, the Time Lord mentions Chris had a body bepple to appear as a giant teddy bear in PROSE: Original Sin.
 * Skutloid, Drexton and Garshal all first appeared in PROSE: The Medusa Effect.
 * Emilia Winston first appeared in PROSE: Dragons' Wrath.
 * In PROSE: The Book of the War Cwej's new form was explained to have been designed by the House Military to be resistant to the Fat.