He began writing when his former high school teacher showed him works of Emily Dickinson and T. S. Eliot.

Dale Gale calls the work "rich in language and riveting in tone: it brims with a sense of foreboding that is sustained throughout" and a "well-crafted eerie novel that demands to be read again".

[8] Another reviewer said that Bedard was "working on a new level" and that "everything is described in detail and every point is made through dialogue".

[9] The Painted Devil is a sequel to A Darker Magic, set in the same town of Caledon 28 years later.

The publisher blurbed, "At once an exploration of poetry, a story of family relationships, and an intriguing mystery, The Green Man is Michael Bedard at his finest.