Tag: dead park

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I broke his arm, he still became my best man

It was the summer of 1997. I had just finished college. Tyler Bradley (far right in the photo above in the red shirt, posing with Reese Ramone, Smoky Mountain legend Bobby Blaze, and me) still had a year of high school left. I returned to CIY conference as an adult leader for my church’s youth group because Tyler had given me an ultimatum. “If you don’t go, I’ll kill you.”

The two of us met the summer before at CIY in my drama workshops. He lived three hours away on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia. Yes, Dead Park readers, right in that area where Dead Park itself is now set. I helped him get his own drama team up ant running at his church. We met up to see the re-release of Star Wars: The Special Edition when it was brand new. Sorry, fellow die hards, I like the CGI dewbacks and still do.

On the last night of CIY Tyler took part in a skit on the main stage. In front of 1100 kids, he raced out as a paramedic, picked up a lifeless Richard Simmons (long story), and attempted to carry him off stage with another actor. Tyler went backwards. He tripped over a guitar cord.

I laughed. All 1100 kids laughed. His youth pastor laughed, especially when I had to tell him, “Tyler broke his arm.”

“I’ll get the van and take him to the ER.” Thanks, Mark. And rest in peace.

Tyler and I have been buds ever since. He lived with me for a brief time. He became, ironically, a paramedic. We almost wrote a musical about it. “Start your day with a DOA, doo dah, doo dah.” And yes, he was the best man at my wedding.

Tyler’s read more of my stuff than probably anyone. He’s been in several short films and lent his voice to many more. And in late 2025, when I decided I needed a new look and new covers for the Dead Park book series, he’s the one who said, “Oh yeah, I can do that.”

“Can we do it horror but also, art deco?”

“No problem.”

So this is my Tyler Bradley appreciation post, for all he’s done for me, for all the sharpening of iron he’s done to make the crazy things I write better. And believe me, we’re far from done.

Incidentally, the trip to Ashland when we went to see Star Wars together? There’s a story in Dead Park Classified, the six book in the series coming very soon, that honors that memory.

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People of Dead Park: Jaren Childers

The first time I met Jaren Childers, I had her bumped off.

Someone had to die. I don’t know why, but someone had to go, and that straw fell to Jaren.

It’s her fault, really. She responded to a casting call. I wanted to film a new short video series, The World’s Shortest Rom Coms. To be fair, I let her fall in love over and over and over again before we had her killed. Okay, maybe she was jilted a few times for that other girl. Who I also had killed. But she got to experience some love and kisses on her way out.

Before anyone reports me to the authorities, let me explain.

I make movies. And I write stories about a dark, scary place called Dead Park. Jaren not only reached out when I posted my casting call, she recruited four other actors to come along for the ride – including the second dead girl and one of her own killers.

Sometimes you meet creative talents that bring out the best in you. I really enjoyed working with Jaren. Her enthusiasm for acting is contagious, and like me, she’s a networker. Every film shoot is a chance to do just that, and she and her acting colleagues embraced that fully one summer day.

Jaren and I have collaborated on a number of things since that day. Some for my day job and many for Dead Park. She’s the one who will give you a guilt trip if you click the page for my Amazon links. Yeah. Fine. Go ahead and buy from Amazon and not me. Give them more of your hard-earned money.

The 2023 graduate of Campbellsville University is working hard to find acting gigs where she can. She’s also giving tours of the Angel’s Envy Distillery, so if you happen to meet her there – tell her I said hello.

I’ve got at least one more short film I hope to shoot with Jaren (and Macy – you know, the other dead girl?) in the near future. This time, I think I’ll let them live. I’m grateful to both of them for sharing their talents, and especially Jaren, who became a full-fledged producer on The World’s Shortest Rom Coms with all her efforts to make that film shoot happen.

You can check out the Rom Com series below. It’s less than three minutes, so seriously, watch them all and enjoy.

Thanks, Jaren, for being a great friend and a willing victim.

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People of Dead Park: Chuck from Dead Park Records

Dead Park Records by John Cosper

The hero, if you can call him that, of Dead Park Records is a hapless, aspiring musician who is offered a devil’s deal. Chuck’s friend, a concert promoter, introduces him to a recording executive who will make his rock n roll dream come true. All Chuck has to do is murder a girl he’s never met – no questions asked.

While there’s no one person who inspired the character of Chuck, the idea behind the story came from my old friend Stephanie. Stephanie and I met through a church group, and we spent a lot of time going to the movies when she was home from college. We watched a lot of teen comedies in the late 90s and early 2000s. I’m pretty sure Get Over It, one of my favorite of the genre, was one of them.

One night, Steph told me about a friend of hers who had a job fulfilling the rider agreements for concert artists. If you’re not familiar, the rider is a secondary contract that all artists require and all concert promoters must follow to the letter.

Rider agreements are a necessary evil, giving artists some control over the food and accommodations at every stop. Some have special dietary needs, for example, and no one wants to eat the same thing (pizza again??) at every stop. But the bigger the artist becomes, the more demanding and extravagant the demands can be: new carpeting, new furniture, fresh flowers, an endless variety of food, and a ridiculous amount of booze.

Stephanie’s friend told her that many artists also had unwritten requests that had to be fulfilled. Items that couldn’t be put in writing because, well, they’re illegal. You can guess what those special requests might include.

It was that conversation that inspired a screenplay called “The Rider.” The screenplay went through several drafts over the years, but it finally say the light of day more than two decades later. That’s when I adapted the story into the Dead Park universe.

While all the other books in the Dead Park series are a compilation of multiple short stories, Dead Park Records tells one single story. It felt fitting to let this story, once a film script, stand on its own. Perhaps one day it’ll be adapted back into film. Until then, you can enjoy the Dead Park version of the story, complete with boy bands, a cappella groups, and more all hell-bent on committing murder – just to get a recording contract.

Order your copy of Dead Park Records now.

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People of Dead Park: Mr. Puppet

Several years ago, I was into puppets. I made a while series of short films starring Clive, a one-of-a-kind Zombie Puppet I discovered on eBay and just had to have. We had a lot of fun carving up other puppets, filling their heads with Spaghetti-Os, and subverting a few conventions of the zombie genre.

 

Oddly enough – Clive was not the inspiration for Mr. Puppet, the mysterious denizen of the Dead Park mall toy shop. Mr. Puppet was a creation of my kids and their best friends.

Sam and Lydia – now 16 and 17 – have three life-long best pals who live just five minutes away. They had countless sleepovers when they were little, and as kids do, they invented some games and traditions all their own. Some of them were charming. One was disturbing.

The kids had a few puppets of their own they played with, along with some of mine. (Clive was NOT among them. One of the friends, in particular, was terrified of him and may still be.) They would gather in the basement around one of these puppets, and we’d hear them chanting:

Mr. Puppet, Mr. Puppet, come alive!

Come alive on the count to five!

One… two… three… four… five!

There would then be lots of screaming and running in the dark. I’m still unclear what was happening at that point.

Years later, as I was brainstorming for The Shops at Dead Park, the Mr. Puppet chant came to mind. I adopted it straight into the story, creepy chant and all. Of course my version of Mr. Puppet turned out to be much darker and more sinister than the one the kids played with. But in fairness, Mr. Puppet never harmed children. Only naughty teenagers. As you would in a horror story.

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People of Dead Park: Baby Kills-A-Lot

Baby Kills-A-Lot from Dead Park Estates.

My father didn’t care for dolls. Blame it on Rod Serling, whose Twilight Zone episode “Talking Tina” left a lasting impression on him. Dad thought they were creepy, and if there was one thing worse than a doll, it was a doll with teeth.

Baby Kills-A-Lot from Dead Park Estates. After hearing a rant about dolls with teeth, my sister Dawn drew one. She called her Baby Kills-A-Lot. She had sinister eyes, raggedy hair, and teeth. Nasty teeth. Scary teeth. She was everything my father hated about a doll.

Still, my father kept the art work, and in the coming years, he used it to haunt my sister. She received Baby Kills-A-Lot items every Christmas. Mugs. Christmas ornaments. My dad even made wrapping paper with the frightening doll on it. It was funny. It was one of a few gags the two of them had, the other being a dickie, inspired by Christmas Vacation and Designing Women.

Then, my sister had children.

It was her second child, Alex, who suffered the most. He was terrified of the doll, and rather than discourage him, my dad doubled down on springing Baby Kills-A-Lot on his daughter and her dear, sweet babies.

Readers of my books and this blog know my dad was posthumously the impetus behind the creation of the Dead Park series and Dead Park Books in general. So it’s only fitting that, with my sister’s permission, Baby Kills-A-Lot joins the franchise. You’ll find her in book four, Dead Park Estates, in a creepy yet funny take I believe my dad would have enjoyed.

You can purchase signed copies of all the Dead Park books right here, or click here to buy the whole series on Amazon Kindle for less than $12.

Dead Park: The Series available on Kindle