Review of �Painter�s Green� by Cyrus Wraith Walker

“Painter’s Green” by Cyrus Wraith Walker

Review by Robert Brouhard

I first ran across “Painter’s Green” by Cyrus Wraith Walker on the Damnation Books website (http://www.damnationbooks.com/) as an eBook.  I purchased it and a few others to give Damnation Books a try.  It sat on my desktop, unread for awhile. A few months later, I ran into the author hanging around the Dark Discoveries table at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon in Portland, Oregon.  We talked a little and I got a physical copy of the book.

At almost 15,000 words, “Painter’s Green” is a pretty short novella/novelette.  The physical copy is about 35 pages and it didn’t take long to read (set it aside to enjoy before you go to bed, or read it during a lazy afternoon on the couch like I did).  The story is about an Oregon man named Terry who is trying to revitalize his recently inherited painting business, The Brushville Paint Contractors.  He rediscovers a can of green paint, simply titled “Painter’s Green,” that he remembers his father strangely claiming would make the family wealthy.  Curiosity overtakes Terry and he tries out the paint.  He soon discovers that it has mysterious revitalizing powers, and of course, this being a dark story, all is not what it seems.

The overall feel of “Painter’s Green” is close to The Twilight Zone…a darker version…nay, a greener version of the black and white shows.  At a certain point it felt like it could have been fleshed out an extra 100 or so pages, but it works as it is too.  The reader is left to ponder what did and could have happened.  I found it very unique and it would have been perfect in an anthology. 

My only complaint is the use of the registered trademark symbol, the circled R (“®”).  I don’t know if Mr. Walker had to use it or not, but I’m not used to seeing it in books.   Every time he uses a name brand, it is quickly followed by “®.” Thankfully, he doesn’t use brand names in abundance, and the humor sprinkled in the novella helped me quickly forgive the little rated-® bastids.

There is a short film/trailer for the book… it might give too much away, but it doesn’t stop the story from being a good read.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mTmvfXxARHU

Cyrus Wraith Walker’s website:

http://www.cyruswraithwalker.com/

The eBook is available at:

Damnation Books

and

Amazon: Painter's Green eBook at Amazon

New and used physical books at:

Amazon: Painter's Green book at Amazon