The So Say We All Bookstore
BLACK CANDIES: THE JOURNAL OF LITERARY HORROR
Black Candies is SSWA’s journal of literary horror with a commitment to diverse voices. Black Candies is a place where “genre” is not a dirty word. It’s a place where respectable and serious writers can indulge their darkest and weirdest tendencies. It’s a platform for authors to create intelligent terror. Black Candies: A Journal of Literary Horror wants to unsettle you. We have several anthologies available:
Black Candies: The Eighties
2018
We’re living in a loop. Things keep repeating. The eighties almost killed us, and now they’re back to finish the job.
Black Candies: The Eighties features 23 stories of analog horror that slice through the late-night whir of VHS, the big hair, and neon parties to prove that nostalgia is the real murderer behind the mask.
Black Candies: See Through
2013
For this issue, 17 writers offer their own disturbing interpretations of the theme “See Through.” With more than half of the stories written by women, Black Candies aims to correct the trajectory of the male-dominated literary journals, as well as provide a home for notoriously underrepresented women horror writers.
Black Candies: Gross and Unlikeable // WOMEN
2017
Here at Black Candies, we’re always striving to create a better platform for women writers, who are often underrepresented in horror, genre, and speculative outlets. For this special issue of Black Candies, guest-edited by Natanya Ann Pulley, we exclusively feature work from those who identify as women.
Black Candies: Surveillance
2016
We’re never alone. Paranoia has replaced privacy. Secrets are the new currency. The strangers who watched from the street now watch from within. For our third issue of Black Candies, we found 11 smart, terrifying stories that explore the theme of “Surveillance” in explicit, implicit and abstract ways. These stories not only touch on the contradiction of the securities of our modern era, but unearth the deeper terror, paranoia, and anxiety that results.
Incoming
Incoming is a series of publications (and live storytelling performances, and radio / podcast programming) that provides a forum for veterans, veteran families, and foreign nationals who’ve worked with the US military to tell their own stories in their own words. We solicit non-fiction and poetry nationally, while drawing heavily upon work from our own Veteran Writers Division. Every book you buy helps So Say We All provide veteran writer workshops, masterclasses, additional episodes of the Incoming public radio program, and more books. Thank you for helping us serve those who’ve served!
Incoming: Sex, Drugs and Copenhagen
2019
The second volume in the Incoming series, “Sex, Drugs, and Copenhagen,” features the true stories of veterans and military family members told in their own words, straight from their own mouths, about what comes from the boredom, loneliness, and need for escapism that pervades military life. Uniquely hilarious, poignant, and bizarre, this collection opens a window into the unexplored side of military culture when things start getting weird.
Incoming: Veteran Writers on Returning Home
2016
As the inspiration behind the radio series of the same name, this beautiful paperback anthology contains true stories from veteran and active duty writers across the US and its bases abroad, told in their own words, straight from their own mouths, on the topic of returning from deployment and transitioning back into civilian life. At times poignant and darkly humorous, the wit and insights of these voices are an important and well-wrought addition to a conversation we all need to be having. Your purchase of the book not only helps So Say We All continue to produce the radio program, it helps the contributing writers spread their work, and if you gift it for a veteran or a family member of a veteran you know, we hope it will speak to them as well.
The Radvocate
What started in 2011 as a poorly-xeroxed cry for artistic solidarity in the form of a zine, morphed into an open-sourced platform of expression. A like-minded community of artists was formed: poets, authors, artists, photographers, columnists, videographers, journalists, and many more joined together from all over the country to make the eclectic issues a reality. In those flimsy paper copies, the soul of The Radvocate was forged, an irreverent but proud spirit which carries on to this day. The Radvocate is a new kind of literary arts journal from the San Diego-based literary arts non-profit So Say We All. Get Rad.
The Radvocate #15
2017
This issue features work from Brett Morris, Alex Bosworth, CL Bledsoe, Linda M. Crate, Craig Evenson, David Henson, Philip Kuan, Amanda Tumminaro, Lucy Palmer, Nolan Hutton, Cat Dixon, Gerardo de Jesus Gurrola Jr., Yvonne Higgins Leach, Donna Zephrine, Nicole Martinez, Kathleen Langstroth, Toni Martin, Steve Tague, Elaine Gingery, Kevin McCoy, Marisa Crane, Pouya Razavi, Laura Gwynne, Paul Douglas McNeill II, and Jed Wyman.
The Radvocate #14
2016
Featuring work from Karl Sherlock, Scott Sherman, Meggie Royer, Eric Raymond, Joe Baumann, John Vanderslice, Harley Lethalm, Dania Brett, Anthony Martin, Jamie Sullivan, Larry Blazek, Emily Green, Lois Harrod, Janet Joyner, Allyson Whipple, Caroline Taylor, Laura Preble, Sara Morrison, & Juleigh Howard-Hobson.
The Radvocate Vol. 13
2015
Featuring literary work from: Allison Whittenberg, Brandon Marlon, Kiik A.K., Patrick Mayuyu, Grant Mason, Meg Tuite, Mason Green-Richards, Parker Tettleton, Zachary Scott Hamilton, Clay Norvell, Neil P. McDevitt, Alan Semrow, Robin Wyatt Dunn, Alex Bosworth, Ryan Hicks, Johnnie B. Baker, and an interview with Henry Rollins. Edited by Matt E. Lewis.
The Whole Alphabet
The Whole Alphabet is So Say We All’s LGBTQ+ creative writing workshop and live storytelling series, offering free education opportunities to anyone interested in telling their story and telling it better. We are thrilled as of 2021 to announce the program’s first collection, The Whole Alphabet: The Light And The Dark.
The Whole Alphabet: The Light And The Dark
2021
In this intensely compelling nonfiction anthology, The Whole Alphabet: The Light And The Dark, a collection of brave and creative authors from across America delve into their most personal experiences to deliver unexpected and original shots to the heart. These boldly-rendered stories and poems are reflections of the authors’ true, lived experiences and are told from the perspectives of teens to octogenarians. Their creations pop from the pages, chronicling the range of their realities, from the raw in the muck to the sparkle in the parades.
Discover your queer neighbors, friends, coworkers, and community — however they identify through the alphabet and acronyms — in this compilation of riveting works, with a refreshing honesty usually reserved for the closest of confidants. No matter what labels we apply to ourselves, or what labels get applied to us, we all grow, we all learn, we all love (and if all goes well, we learn to love ourselves). So dive into this book, explore and enjoy authentic, well crafted pieces, and love.