Welcome to the first book giveaway on The Second Pass. It’s a tradition on other sites, and I hope I can do more of it in the future. This initial offering is the Penguin Classics edition of Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. A lovely book, it can be yours for nothing at all. Just send an e-mail to john[at]thesecondpass[dot]com, with Pynchon in the subject line. If you’d like to add a brief note, telling me how much you like the site, or a way you think it could be improved, or who you think will win the National League’s central division this year, I would love that. No mailing address necessary — I’ll contact the winner for that. Winner will be determined by random drawing. I’ll accept entries until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 8th.

Rest assured that your e-mail addresses will not be used for any nefarious purposes. I would have no idea how to do that, even if I wanted to, which I most certainly do not. I look forward to hearing from you. Good luck.