"MobyLives, the grandaddy of all lit weblogs, including Bookninja."

— George Murray, Bookninja.com


"MobyLives towers above all other literary weblogs."

— Michael Orthofer, The Complete Review


"Gawker is to Moby Lives as primetime network television shows are to HBO series. Take a look at Moby Lives, and you will understand that there is an intelligent, earnest, unpetty, non–narcissistic, un–gawking way to cover the publishing industry."

— Sarah Stodola, MeThree.net


"Moby Lives, the godfather of all book blogs. If you're not familiar with either Melville House or Moby Lives, go get acquainted. Johnson is a true American genius, and the world of literature is much richer for his, and Valerie Merians', efforts."

— Michael Schaub, Bookslut.com


"So informative I made it my home page. MobyLives is the publishing industry's bullshit detector."

— Kevin Sampsell, Future Tense Books


"Thank you, astute editors at the irreverent and literary website, MobyLives.com."

— Pat Holt, HoltUncensored.com


"A lovely source of news, literary intelligence, and humor about the book world. Smart, smart, smart."

— Kevin Smokler, CentralBooking.com


"A cool, biting, thorough site about current happenings with books and writers. Truly one of the better book sites."

— Bookmouth.com


"Dennis Loy Johnson, deserves to be mentioned here for his famously anti–establishment blog postings (this newspaper's books coverage came under regular fire), his focus on the good work that gets lost in the publishing shuffle and his intriguing guest column series."

— David Orr, The New York Times Book Review


"MobyLives.com is a weekly review of writers and their foibles by Dennis Loy Johnson, a man with a taste for both irony and the truth. 'That whale is out there, man,' he says, and we believe him."

— Killing the Buddha.com


"For a bunch of page–flippers, over–the–keyboard–hunchers and whiskey–swillers, lit bloggers look surprisingly normal in the harsh light of a fan's camera. We would even go so far as to say that Dennis Loy Johnson, aka Moby Lives aka Melville House's publisher, is SUPER–HOT.** (** Obligatory "for a blogger" insert negified by cool–small–press–publisher status.)

— Lizzie Skurnick, OldHag.com


"Invaluable."

— Brothers Judd.com


"Smart, fun and often withering."

— Peder Zane, The Raleigh News & Observer


"While MobyLives may have the flavour of keeping its 'distance from the literary scene,' note that the man behind MobyLives is more IN that scene than any other bookblogger I'm aware of and does a good deal to shape it. Not just a writer, he runs a new, independant, well–respected publishing house. As with any personality on any topic, one must make the distinction between those with the pretense of being on the scene (the blowhard literati ...) and really being in the know. The difference between the scene that makes itself heard and the scene behind the scene perhaps. Johnson is the real deal and very cool about it."

— Isabella Kratynski, Magnificent Octopus.com


"I am glad to have a column like MobyLives to read. There is so much more of a human touch, and a lot of heart, in MobyLives."

— Casey Hill, NewPages.com


"A little cetacean humor mixed with bookish commentary makes for one splashy site."

— The Kenyon Review


Yahoo.com "Pick of the Week" September 10, 2001


"Mobylives.com, a Web Site produced by Dennis Loy Johnson, is part of the Library of Congress September 11 Web Archive and preserves the web expressions of individuals, groups, the press and institutions in the United States and from around the world in the aftermath of the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001."

The Library of Congress


"Hey, MobyLives is back!"

— Atomic Books.com