FEATURED ASSOCIATE
FIRST FEATURED: 03/21/06
ASSOCIATE SINCE: 2005
CURRENT ADMINISTRATOR: Dan Gunter
FOUNDER: Mike Berro
URL: p078.ezboard.com/bjackvance
FOUNDED IN: July 1999
MAIN INTERESTS: Literary discussion, the works of author Jack Vance
To attempt a description of the Jack Vance message board community is a task akin to pinpointing Hamlet's true motivation or to following the curves of the Mobius strip: a worthwhile and challenging endeavor, even if a conclusive destination is impossible to reach. The roots of this community go back to the middle 1990's when Mike Berro originally founded the Jack Vance Information page. Though the mantle of administrative leadership has since passed to David Pierce and then to Dan Gunter, Berro still contributes to the page with "his deep knowledge of Vance, and his levelheadedness," says Gunter. Board regulars include author and novelist Matthew Hughes, who Gunter describes as "the unofficial 'second author' of the
board."
The literacy pursuits of the regulars at the Jack Vance board are numerous. Administrator axolotl is a published literary translator and David B. Williams is currently at work on a literary biography of Jack Vance. The literary resumes of Vance Board members should come as no surprise; the atmosphere on the board is one of intellectual and gentlemanly discussion, an atmosphere, according to Gunter, "marked by a high degree of goodwill and mutual respect." Asked to characterize the membership on the Vance Board, Hughes comments, "We are the kind of people who read Vance, then read him again, then yet again. What more need be said?" For prospective members, Williams suggests getting a taste of their favorite author: "Because we are all Vance fanatics, a knowledge of the Vancean oeuvre would be helpful for newcomers to understand some of the allusions and references."
While intelligent literary discussion centered on their favorite author is the center of the Jack Vance Board, don't jump to any conclusions - the Vance Board is most certainly not the online equivalent of a dusty wood-paneled library full of craggy professors. It's more like the wood-paneled campus bar where profs and grads meet to share brews and swap ideas. "I would add that," axolotl warns, "we are not single-minded in our interests. I'd say that most of us read books apart from Jack's, and those books cover all possible genres." Oofy
Prosser describes this dynamic group, saying "some of us are inexhaustibly young at heart, slim, reasonably hirsute, and loquacious to something rather less than a fault." Vermoulian makes a convincing argument for anyone considering joining the ranks of Vance readers: "Vance fans are set apart from the common ruck by their relatively consistent appreciation of really good whiskey." Member pecooper remarks, "Everyone on this board is a member of [the species] Intelligent Equus Asinus. No meaningful description of the board, or its users, is possible without understanding this."
While in such a short space, any more than a taste of the Jack Vance Board community is impossible, newcomers should be advised that there exists no finer way to become acquainted with the works of Jack Vance. Thoughtful readers of alternative reality fiction will find this Vancean community an unparalleled center for literary discussion and comradery.
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