The Second Pass is an exclusively online publication devoted to reviews, essays, and blog posts about books new and old. The site’s founder and editor, John Williams, lives in Brooklyn, NY. From 2001-2007, he worked in the editorial department at HarperCollins. Before that, he spent time as a journalist in Texas and an editorial intern at Harper’s Magazine. His work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Slate, McSweeney’s, Stop Smiling, the Barnes & Noble Review, the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News, and other publications.
Praise for the site:
“[A] proud outpost of serious thinking in a wilderness of cant.”
—Blake Wilson, Paper Cuts, New York Times
“[A] beautiful new site . . . some of the best literary coverage I’ve seen in a while.”
—Michael Schaub, Bookslut
“[A]pproaches literary criticism from an appealing variety of angles. . . . The Second Pass features some of the sharpest and most serious literary criticism to be found on the web.”
—MobyLives
“Lots of online literary mags, but The Second Pass is the least pretentious and most readable by quite a long way.”
—Scott Pack, Me and My Big Mouth
“Excellent.”
—Jacket Copy, Los Angeles Times
“[D]iscusses contemporary and classic literature at a genuinely grown-up level. . . . head over there and bookmark it with gusto.”
—The Abbeville Manual of Style
“[A]n example of how innovative bookworms can use the Web to counterbalance all those vanishing newspaper book sections in a way that might even improve upon the dying breed’s model.”
—Stop Smiling
“Fantastic . . . an impressive range of features. I guarantee you’ll want to linger. The site’s stylish design makes its first-rate content even more inviting.”
—Fiction Writers Review
“As literary online zines go, The Second Pass has started with a huge bang. We look forward to watching it grow.”
—Meet at the Gate
“Well-designed and reader-friendly . . . very welcoming.”
—normblog
“Extremely impressive.”
—City of Tongues
“The Second Pass is a laudable review that recognizes that sometimes critical views are better formed a few months after the ink on the publisher’s press release has dried.”
—The Neglected Books Page
Interviews about The Second Pass with:
Melville House
Virginia Quarterly Review
Dan Wagstaff (The Casual Optimist)
Tim O’Shea
