An Oklahoma City council member and OU alum will release his debut historical fiction novel on Oct. 17.
“Moonlit Massacre,” by Oklahoma City Ward 2 Councilmember James Cooper, is a horror thriller inspired by serial killer Roger Dale Stafford and his accomplices, Verna and Harold Stafford, who killed six employees at Sirloin Stockade Buffet in 1978.
“It’s not the real murders that happened, but it’s using the real events from that time and everything else that was happening in 1978 Oklahoma City,” Cooper said. “It’s bringing true crime elements and literary horror elements. It’s really blending different genres.”
Cooper said that, during his time as a student at OU, he was interested in studying the presence of violence in mass media and how it impacts society.
“I wanted to use film studies to learn what is the effect of violent images on our brains,” Cooper said.
Originally, Cooper intended to write an academic book about media violence. Cooper researched various mass shootings such as the Aurora Theater shooting and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting. Cooper said the Sirloin Stockade Buffet was the prequel to America’s history of mass gun violence.
Cooper said he was also inspired by “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Oklahoma’s history of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
“When the Sirloin Stockade murders happened, no one knew who did it for nine months, and that required the FBI to return to Oklahoma,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the Sirloin Stockade Buffet was a piece of a greater puzzle of mass violence in Oklahoma.
The novel includes scenes in downtown Oklahoma City, OU’s campus and Gray Owl Coffee, a local coffee shop in downtown Norman.
Cooper earned his bachelor’s degree in film studies and a minor in political science at OU. He also earned a master’s in creative writing from Oklahoma City University and a master’s in English from Oklahoma State University. He currently serves as an English professor at Oklahoma City University.
Oklahoma City Ward 2 Council Member James Cooper at the Black Lives Matter OKC rally on May 31.
Cooper has served as an Oklahoma City council member since 2019, where he focuses on alternative mental health responses, public safety and law enforcement reforms.
Cooper’s writing has been featured in publications like The New York Times, the Huffington Post and The Oklahoma Gazette. He has won a Society of Professional Journalists award and was named Champions of Pride in 2020 for the Advocate Magazine, the nation’s oldest 2SLGBTQ+ publication.
“Moonlit Massacre" will be available in Literati Press bookstores on Oct. 17 with preorders available on Instagram and Baker & Taylor.
A release party hosted by Literati Press Bookstore with Cooper in attendance will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 17 in Oklahoma City.
This story was edited by Ana Barboza, Ismael Lele and Anusha Fathepure. Sophie Hemker and Gretchen Schultz copy edited this story.
