"Periphery" reads like an early work, like a novel that gets published after a writer makes it big and unearths his past oeuvre, wherein his entire style and voice can obviously be seen in budding form, if not yet bloomed, not yet a full-on pollinating pisser of a plant. It's rough in areas, but the book itself is very much an outside-the-box thing, and therefore one can do little more than applaud how coherent and tight the final result is, no matter how suspect I am that the author's future works will prove far better.

Awesome description with a veritable galaxy of witticisms throughout. The joy is that the wit never grows stale, which is the downfall of most writers who pen by perpetual smirk. There's a heavy dose of sincerity and sympathy that tails all the humor, and this, I think, is perhaps Wagner's greatest strength as showcased in "Periphery". The ability to forever see the humor inherent in both situation and narration alike, but also the hand-in-hand humanity, which puts him skirting the "Mark Twain" camp of humorists, which is phenomenal.

I highly enjoyed the story inside "Periphery". I would never write anything so thoroughly whimsical myself, but that didn't detract an ounce from the joy. Wagner is careful to give every small piece its own life, understanding, explanation, and exploration, so that I held little fear the story would collapse upon its own wildness. Usually, books of this tenor and type are notoriously indecipherable (I can't stand style over substance, the latter works of David Lynch-esque plotless, self-aggrandizing artsy crap). I need a STORY. I need CHARACTERS and a goddamed PLOT. That ENDS. Wagner doesn't disappoint. It's not an easy "whole", but it's not impossible or even improbable to grasp in full.

The philosophy (and there's a lot of it, mostly pseudo-such, as it's made fun of in a way that hints at Wagner's adoration of it, though he remains staunchly cynical as to its general practice and use) was handled with imagination and yet an honest (perhaps TOO honest) grasp of its intricacies. It was fun, if somewhat overpowering at times, sometimes taking the place of writerly things I wanted more of (sometimes I wanted the book to delve into something else, anything else).

MY CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH: Periphery is unforgettable, and mostly due to good things. Wagner was able to go sky-high and beyond with a capricious plot and yet maintain an honesty to his fantastical, utterly unreal characters, as well as an intellect to his seemingly unstructured plot. To be honest, it's everything I've ever wanted out of a complexly layered tale, and yet it's not audacious enough for the art crowd and not simple enough for the lay, which = self-publishing. I also have a sneaking suspicion that most folks aren't actually logical enough to follow a story as indebted to logic, and yet not at all structured, as Periphery. For most, logic must equate with routine, like the memorization of multiplication tables. By memorizing answers, and being able to recognize them on sight, they boast of "intelligence". But hand them a mathematical something that has nothing to do with multiplication tables, and they'll deem it "illogical". Science doesn't actually work like that, and baby, neither does writing. Wagner's dropped an algorithm into a world of multiplication-table reciting addicts. So, whoo...good luck with that Mr. Wagner. For what it's worth, I think it was worth it.

And be sure to check out Wagner's big-time professionally published work, a three-issue comic book mini-seires published through APE ENTERTAINMENT called: FICTION CLEMENS (http://www.fictionclemens.com - it's even better than PERIPHERY!)