Guest Blogger: You Had Me at Hello by Krystal Lawrence



You Had Me at Hello
By Krystal Lawrence

Because I write scary stories designed to inspire fear, it’s important that the would-be reader feel a shiver crawl up their spine before they have even opened the book to the first page. For instance: the ambience of a dank and eerie castle on the jacket should inspire you to want to peek at who might be dwelling within its walls. Or you should wonder what it might be like to feel the sting of the vampire’s fangs whose mesmerizing and glowing eyes stare back at you from the cover.
All books, regardless of the genre, need to paint a picture for the reader of what lies within. A finely crafted cover design in many cases determines whether or not they will take that next step and buy the book.

You will never see a romance novel with a frumpy house frau on the jacket. It will usually be something like a raven-haired beauty, complete with heaving bosom, wrapped in the well-muscled arms of a shirtless heartthrob. Why? Because, that picture is the first tantalizing hint of the hot blooded escapade residing just underneath the fetching come-hither stares of the couple gracing the cover.

Forever burned into my psyche is the looming, shadowy visage of Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel on the cover of The Shining. That picture began telling me the story before I ever met Jack Torrance. It made me want to wander the halls of that haunted inn and meet the ghosts within, having yet to read the first page. When a book’s cover can rouse that kind of curiosity it speaks to the reader as much as the story does.

I believe the same is true for non-fiction. Years ago I remember attending a book fair. Already laden with a huge and ungainly stack of books, as I was checking out I impulsively grabbed a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast and threw it on top of the pile. The photograph of the Parisian street on the cover caught my eye. I didn’t know a thing about the book, I just liked the picture. It turned out to be a fascinating read.

A book jacket should be just like Jerry Maguire——it should have you at hello.

About the Author: 

Krystal Lawrence was born and raised in Southern California, where she was a child actress. In her late teens and early twenties she redirected her creative energy into radio, and hosted a successful talk show in Las Vegas for many years. She is the author of two previous books and numerous short stories. She now lives in Seattle where she is working on her fourth novel, PHONE CALL FROM HELL.

Her latest book is the horror/suspense, Risen II.

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About the Book:

Title: Risen II: The Progeny
Author: Krystal Lawrence
Publisher: Telemachus Press
Pages: 281
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Format: Hardcover/Kindle

Producers take note! Francis Barclay is back and he’s ready for prime time.

Fans of horror/suspense masters Stephen King and Dean Koontz are sure to delight in the return of Francis Barclay, the vengeful and bloodthirsty vampire resurrected from the dead after 200 years, in RISEN, by the “Mistress of Macabre,” Krystal Lawrence. Barclay, cremated at the end of RISEN, has once again returned from the ashes -- and this time he’s not alone!

In Lawrence’s riveting sequel, RISEN II: THE PROGENY, Barclay is working his slow and agonizing way back to Alder Lake, determined to save the child he accidentally sired.

RISEN began the tale of Francis Barclay’s return to Alder Lake to avenge the centuries old murder of his family.  In this spellbinding sequel, Barclay is determined to save his progeny. When last we left Alder Lake, seven year-old Lorna was waiting patiently by the window for her blood-father’s return. Her wait is now over. She has inherited Francis Barclay’s luminous glowing eyes as well as his taste for blood.

Alder Lake is once again plagued by murder. Only this time, the suspect will surprise everyone!

The “Risen” books may remind readers of the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOVELS by Charlaine Harris or Stephenie Meyer’s TWILIGHT series, but Lawrence reaches farther back for inspiration in the undead genre. She calls her novels “vampires for grownups,” in the manner of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA, the most famous bloodsucker of them all.

The main similarity of the RISEN novels to Harris’ and Meyer’s books lies in their rich potential to be adapted into the kind of theatrical or television films that can’t miss in attracting hordes of dedicated fans.

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