Peek Behind the Curtain: Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby?

I've continued reading nonfiction essays about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which left me curious about the internet presence of the show.  Lucky for me one of the early members of The Bronze (the first network sponsored web community for the show) wrote a memoir about it:  Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? (True Adventures in Cult Fandom).  Allyson Beatrice boldly bestrides herself -- she is both an enthusiastic member of an online community and also completely in tune with people who find the entire idea of an "internet buddy" supremely skeevy.

Different chapters discuss the true connections made, friendships and marriages drawn from the bulletin boards, frauds uncovered and dicey situations handles, acts of generosity sweeping through a community (including a tour of the US arranged for a common favorite based in Israel, including kosher provisions) as well as tiny acts of fannish devotion (finding a new home for Joss Whedon's cat).  Beatrice accurately describes the fine line of friendship with an idol as she remembers falling off that line in various directions with Tim Minear.

Unfortunately the ideas themselves aren't quite a book length worth of material.   I was glad I read the book over the course of a month so that the repetitiveness didn't grate too much, but it was more a magazine worth of essays rather than a book.  B-