Here's an extract from SFX Magazine (December 2000) - a science fiction magazine in the UK - about Book-a-minute and Movie-a-minute:


Ever seen the Reduced Shakespeare Company? You know, that bunch of Edinburgh Festival thesps who re-enact the bard's works in abridged versions that last about 60 seconds. Amazing stuff, I think you'll agree.

Now SF literature has its own selection of witty abridgements on the net. Book A Minute SF comes from the same team who also do a movie site - Movie A Minute - condensing classics like Jaws, Frankenstein and All About Eve to a few lines of dialogue. For example, the Godfather becomes: "Marlon Brando: 'Those who oppose the family must be punished (almost dies) (dies)/Al Pacino: 'I'll run the family business straight now, after I kill all these people.'" In fact, the book site is a better bet, as some of the compressed movies just aren't that funny (I beg to differ - Chrico), and they're not solely concerned with SF.

So, for Dune we get "Frank Herbert: 'I'm lots smarter than you are. I challenge you to understand even one of my paragraphs!'/ Reader: 'Gee, Frank Herbert is smart. I can't even find the plot!'" Even better is I, Robot: "Isaac Asimov: 'Here's a logic puzzle thinly disguised as a story'/ Reader: 'Hooray!'"

The breadth of targets is mindboggling. Alongside the obvious (The Hobbit, Rendezvous With Rama) and the classic (Man In The High Castle) there are some oddities like such Doctor Who New Adventures as "War Of The Daleks" and "Timewyrm: Genesis". No Paul Cornell books though. Could we suggest "Doctor: 'I know something you don't, and even I don't know fully'/ Companion: 'Selfish git. I almost got killed because of your hubris.'/ Doctor: 'But we like each other really, don't we?'"


Chr"Who's Paul Cornell?"ico