Imitating life, success, and other stories

Karl Stevens's fifth book collects two graphic novellas along with several shorter works; featuring a suite of collaborations with the writer and artist Gustavo Turner, including the critically acclaimed Succe$$, originally serialized in the Boston Phoenix. "Imitating Life" is the story of a young academic/cartoonist named Veronica Fleece who lives her life through art, in both her professional and personal lives.

By day she teaches art history (specifically Rembrandt) at NYU and by night (and at any spare moment) she commits herself to documenting her thoughts on life and art through comics.

Illustrated in a number of mediums (including oil paint, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil) to mirror the breadth of ideas and tones the story deals with. "Succe$$" is a post-9/11 story about a new breed of young capitalists.

They're eco-friendly, gadget-obsessed, and they scorn the gaucheness and vanity of the Gordon Gekko yuppies.

They're Reagan babies, programmed to "Just Say No" and "Just Do It" at the same time.

If you looked at the back seat of their Priuses, you'd find well-thumbed copies of Atlas Shrugged. Karl Stevens is a graphic novelist and painter. His first book, Guilty, was published in 2004 with a grant from the Xeric Foundation.

He is also the author of Whatever (2008), The Lodger (A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, 2010), and Failure (2013).