AMPUTATION is the first novel to be written about the inferno that obliterated two Los Angeles cities in January of 2025. Major characters are comedian Stephen Colbert; Karen Bass; a TimotheeChalamet stunt double; a fiercely pro-Palestinian heiress and her Zionist father; disgraced Grey's Anatomy writer Elisabeth Finch and a failed indie film produceralong with an assorted battalion of ordinary people, opportunists and looters. A fable drenched in hyperrealism, AMPUTATIONis a burnt jewel box showcasing Wagners transcendent, scabrously poetic powers as he explores the lives (and deaths) of the fire victims, and the consequences of dereliction, delusion, incompetenceand impermanence.
