S.S.O. Press: The Story
S.S.O. Press was started so I [Cole] could be published, knowing that I wouldn't be anywhere else.
The first time I remember working on it was in late June of 1998, trying to get a book out to sell at Chochokum. The earliest date I can find with the words "S.S.O. Press" next to it is March 19th, 1999, on a never-published book called "and the darkness left you no room".
Our first book came out in November of '99 and I am glad it will never be in print again. Not every 17 year-old should be publishing books (there are exceptions: Rimbaud, Nyatni, Ariel...).
In the next few years we released four more of my books.
In 2002 the first few broadsides came out. There was no feedback, but the project was still going without a clear idea of where. Josh and I were sharing a garage at the time and wanted to put together some sort of literary rag. We called it "Registered Biscuit" and put flyers up and down the Puget Sound asking for submissions.
This project never got off the ground, but had the seed for Free Poetry.
Ben Parrish was enlisted to our ranks in early 2003. We had a party for the release of books by him and me. A month later, fried on mushrooms, I had the idea for the Olympia Free Poetry Movement.
I told Josh about it the next night at a party and we agreed, Free Poetry was something we should be giving people.
A year and some months later and we have put out 11 issues of Free Poetry and a total of 15 books by me, Josh, Ben, and Ariel. We have a mailing list of a few hundred people and a fancy website.
To be honest, I never thought S.S.O. Press would be anything but a few stapled-together books. I am still amazed and often confused at what we have done and the number of people who have noticed, responded, and helped. There are too many to name here (59 total contributors as of this writing) but SSO Press would not exist without all of you and I offer my humble thanks.
- Cole Cunningham
