Check Out “The Poet and the Flea”!!!

Due to my upcoming trip to Cannes and London, my online graphic novel The Poet and the Flea is on hiatus this month.

But fear not — The Flea will return with page 25 on June 5th!

In the meantime, feel free to read and re-read the first 24 pages.

See you in June!

–G. E.

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Start from the beginning!

Cover

Title Page

Note

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Page 20

Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25 (coming June 5th)

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Brief Update

★ Don’t forget to check out my graphic novel, The Poet and the Flea!

A new page every Wednesday!

***

Here is a brief update on my current creative projects and endeavors…!

Tuesday, April 2nd

1. The Liebster Award: 4th Nomination!
2. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
3. Worked on Elias & the City of Cats.
4. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Wednesday, April 3rd

1. The Liebster Award: 5th Nomination!
2. Zest Books Internship, Day #18: Worked on image research and editing.

Thursday, April 4th

1. Comics I Admire: “A Space Boy Dream”
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Friday, April 5th

• Zest Books Internship, Day #19: A little bit of editing, a little bit of Facebook-ing, a little bit of photoshopping, and a little bit of mailing.

Saturday, April 6th

• Hanging out with family today. Went to see Oz: The Great and Powerful, which was pretty bad except for the opening credits and the Danny Elfman soundtrack.

Sunday, April 7th

• Did a bunch of scanning today.

Monday, April 8th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Worked on first zine.
3. Worked on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Tuesday, April 9th

1. Keeping an Eye on Expos.
2. Updated the “Links” page — check out Lewis Manalo’s webcomic MetaMorphosis!
   
3. Submissions, submissions, submissions…!
4. Finished working on notes for The Man Who Never Smiled.

Wednesday, April 10th

• Zest Books Internship, Day #20: Worked mostly on mailing today… I think I put together over 60 packages. Wrote a blog post for the Zest Books official blog about upcoming titles Little Fish and Super Pop! with an accompanying illustration — can’t wait to see this go up online!

Thursday, April 11th

1. Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for the Cannes/London trip.
2. Worked on first zine.
3. Made an account with Storenvy and am beginning to set up my own online store.
4. Went with Wes to an event at San Francisco Film Society. Talked with some of Wes’s former employers and met a filmmaker named Joey who will also be at Cannes.

Friday, April 12th

1. Zest Books Internship, Day #21: Worked on some cover designs for an upcoming Zest Books title. Everyone really seems to like what I’ve done!
2. Invited to be an illustrator for an upcoming collaborative project with a small publisher. More details to come!
3. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
4. Worked on setting up the online store.

Saturday, April 13th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Went to North Beach to eat really tasty Italian food. ( ´◔‿ゝ◔`)

Sunday, April 14th

• Date with Wes! Went to see The Place Beyond the Pines, which was interesting. Ate Vietnamese food afterwards. (・∀・)

Movie Theater on Van Ness!

Bun Mee on Fillmore!

Monday, April 15th

1. Feeling under the weather today.
   
2. Working on Blake Society talk!
3. Worked on Elias & the City of Cats.

Tuesday, April 16th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Ran some errands and worked on some preparation for my Cannes/London trip.
3. Thinking of investing in a professionally printed preview zine of The Poet and the Flea to sell online and at expos. Looking into various local printers!
4. Still trying to figure out London.
5. Received through e-mail a sneak peak of what The American Pavilion at Cannes will look like (see below).

Disclaimer: I do not own this image!!

Wednesday, April 17th

• Zest Books Internship, Day #22: Worked on marketing/promotion for 47 Things You Can Do For the Environment.

Exiled to the boss’s office!

Thursday, April 18th

1. Interview today on Treasure Island. 
2. Registered for SF Zine Fest!

Treasure Island is a strange place…

Yep, very strange…

Friday, April 19th

1. Zest Books Internship, Day #23: Sat in on staff meeting. Created a blog post for Earth Day. Worked on WordPress, editing some content.
2. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Saturday, April 20th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Helped mom prepare for the art show next weekend.
3. Did some research on local printers.

Sunday, April 21st

• Elias’s 1st birthday party! Bit of a strange day… Wes and I went to Gabe’s house to celebrate his son’s first birthday. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually get to see Gabe since he had to take his father to the hospital for a broken leg. Later, Wes and I went to The Ice Cream Bar since it was so hot outside and we needed to cool off. Then, we ended up eating at Sunflower Vietnamese for dinner and later had dessert with my folks and Nikki the shiba inu.

View from Gabe’s backyard.

The Ice Cream Bar… again!

Monday, April 22nd

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Ran some errands for Cannes/London trip.
3. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Tuesday, April 23rd

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Cannes/London 2013: Pre-Travel Planning.
3. Cannes/London Trip Hiatus!
4. Working on Blake Society talk!
5. Jotted some ideas down for a future screenplay.

Wednesday, April 24th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Zest Books Internship, Day #24: Put together some interview questions for Dan. Worked on some button designs in Photoshop.
3. HOLY MOLY MACARONI! I just received the most amazing e-mail. (A secret for now…)

♪(┌・。・)┌

Thursday, April 25th

1. Working on Blake Society talk!

Friday, April 26th

1. Wow, received another awesome piece of news. Can’t really say anything yet, but everything is really coming together it seems!!
2. Zest Books Internship, Day #25: LAST DAY! Finished button designs and ordered them online. The office ladies took us out for lunch, which was very sweet.

Saturday, April 27th

1. (´∩｀。) Watched the first 2 hours of Sundance’s original series Rectify — words cannot describe how incredibly emotional this show is.
2. “On Paper” at Gallerie Citi!

Sunday, April 28th

1. Spring Cleaning: Wanted to clean up my room and get rid of a lot of junk before leaving for Cannes/London trip! Now that most of the junk is gone, it should be easier to pack.

Monday, April 29th

• Feeling under the weather today.

Tuesday, April 30th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Helped mom with some photos I took of her work for various purposes.

Wednesday, May 1st

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Even put together some important snail mail today!
3. Ran some errands for Cannes/London trip.

Thursday, May 2nd

1. Reblogged portrait of me by Matthew Curry. 
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Finally got my hair cut! Now I feel like I’m almost ready for my trip. (◕‿◕✿)
4. Correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.

Friday, May 3rd

1. Ran around EVERYWHERE today to finish up errands for the Cannes/London trip. Utterly exhausted!
2. Jotted some more ideas down for a future screenplay.
   

Saturday, May 4th

1. Today’s motto: 七転び八起き= Nanakorobi yaoki. Fall seven times and stand up eight.
   
2. Family Bonding Day! This is the last weekend before I leave for Cannes/London, so spent time with the folks. Ate lunch at a great Puerto Rican restaurant. Finally got to see Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Century at the de Young.

Sunday, May 5th

• Date with Wes! Went to see Iron Man 3, which really wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Ate tasty Japanese dinner at Sanraku. Hopefully will see Wes one more time before I leave!

Monday, May 6th

1. New suitcase arrived in the mail.
2. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
3. Continued correspondence with a recruiter for a potential job.
4. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.
   

Tuesday, May 7th

1. Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
2. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
3. Working on Blake Society talk!

Wednesday, May 8th

1. Ran some errands for the Cannes/London trip.
2. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
3. Finalizing Cannes/London trip plans.
4. Working on Blake Society talk!
5. Jotted down some more ideas for a future screenplay.
6. Dinner with Wes!

Thursday, May 9th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
3. Packing for trip!!
4. Worked on some upcoming blog posts.

Friday, May 10th

1. E-mails, e-mails, e-mails…!
2. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
3. PACKING!!!

Saturday, May 11th

1. Finishing up odds and ends of Cannes/London travel arrangements.
2. Flight leaves San Francisco at 7:05 p.m. Will arrive in Nice, France at 6:10 p.m.

Etcetera

• The Poet and the Flea: 63 pages of written script (1 page of script = 4-6 illustrated pages), and about 36 pages (1-30 completed, and 31-36 in progress) of illustrated work.
• The First Reich: about 1-10 pages of illustrated work in progress.
• First Zine: 8 pages of illustrated work completed. Zine production pending.

To Do:

• Continue to work on The First Reich.
• Finish setting up online store.
• Continue adding blog content to The First Reich.
• Complete script for The Poet and the Flea.

***

For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Package from The Blake Society, 2013

Related Posts: Package from The Blake Society and G. E. Gallas Invited to Speak to The Blake Society!

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Photos of The Blake Society’s Calendar of Events for 2013!

***

For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on facebook, tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

“The First Reich”: Behind the Scenes (Part 1)

Related Post: “The Poet and the Flea”: Behind the Scenes (Part 1)

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Some of you have probably noticed me occasionally mentioning a project called The First Reich. This is a graphic novel collaboration I’ve been working on for a number of months with the very talented Shannon Brady. She wrote the incredibly compelling script/storyboard for The First Reich, carefully plotting out each panel to the best of her artistic ability — stick figures though they may be. It’s my job to transform her wonderful draft into a finished illustrated work.

The First Reich is more or less a biographical account of the Jewish-Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, and deals thoughtfully with a number of subjects including the history of psychology, World War II, Nazism, Communism, McCarthyism, and beyond.

Currently, The First Reich‘s website (thefirstreich.wordpress.com) is bare bones, but you can hop over there and read a fascinating and eloquent statement by Shannon about this project. At the moment, I’m working on the first 10 pages of the graphic novel and hope to post them online sometime in the coming months. Below are details from the progress I’ve made so far.

It’s really a pleasure and honor to work on this project. It’s an absolute joy collaborating with Shannon. And it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on my own Jewish heritage and family history.

Any questions or comments are gladly welcomed!

Preliminary Character Designs: Wilhelm Reich

Preliminary Character Design: Shannon

“The First Reich” Cover Detail

Detail from Page 2

Detail from Page 3

Detail from Page 4

Detail from Page 4

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Seeking Webcomic Suggestions!

★Please Note: Feedback on this post would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Dear friends, followers, readers:

I need your help!

This is me, flailing for help, as represented by a simple emoticon.

I am looking to compile a list of webcomics/online graphic novels that have yet to be professionally published and fall under the category of non-fiction, young adult, biographical/autobiographical/memoir, and/or historical.

Below is my list so far (in no particular order):

1. Awkward Shelby by Shelby Lynn Criswell
2. A Space Boy Dream by Moira Zahra and Mark Scicluna
3. Pre-Raphernalia by Raine Szramski
4. Eve of All Saints by George Herman & Kit Seaton
5. Eavesdropping by Rebecca Pugh
6. Laura Knows Best by Brett Williams
7. Comics/Illustrations by Lucy Bellwood
8. Quarterly Stories by Joshua Kemble
9. Melancholy Rainbow by Nina Kim
10. Oswald the Webcomic by Adam Bastuscheck
11. Weak Highlights by (?)
12. Jack Tinn and the Aquanauts by Jess Smart Smiley
13. Comics by Elis
14. Future eating disorder comic by Lani Fernance
15. Ben Draws Life by Ben
16. Bad Machinery by John Allison
17. In Oscar’s Footsteps by Lucy Knisley
18. Loyalty & Liberty by Tamara ‘Meezer’ Gale
19. Raised On Ritalin by Tyler Page
20. The Unsunny Valley by Michał Shadovski
21. I Think You’re Sauceome by Sarah Becan
22. So Far Apart by Rasmus Gran & Rene Engström
23. Anders Loves Maria by Rene Engström
24. Comics/Zines by Heather Bryant
25. Big Plans Number 5 by Aron Steinke
26. Stripped Books by Gordon McAlpin
27. Clockwork Game by Jane Irwin
28. Dovecote Crest: A Civil War Reenactment Webcomic by Hailey Bachrach & Bridget Underwood
29. Lovecraft is Missing by Larry Latham
30. Kevin Burkhalter’s Journal Comic
31. Alex’s Guide to a Life Well-Lived by Alex Heberling
32. Bobwhite by Magnolia Porter
33. Johnny Wander by Yuko Ota & Ananth Panagariya
34. Conversations With The Boyfriend by Jade F. Lee
35. Delilah Dirk and The Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff
36. Sleeping on the Sleeper by Jen Collins
37. Nine Lines of Metro and Seven Days in Berlin by Neil Slorance
38. …?

Please leave a comment below with your suggestions (name of webcomic and website address) and I’ll add them to my list.

Thank you so much for you help!

Best regards,

G. E.

***

For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Planning for London!

by William Blake

As some of you may know, I was originally planning a trip to the UK for February 2013. Circumstances have changed a countless number of times and I thought I wouldn’t be able to go at all. But, thanks to The American Pavilion Cannes Film Program, I think I’ll be able to make my dream of seeing some of William Blake’s work in person come true (among other dreams of screenwriting, filmmaking, etc.). I’ll be in France for about two weeks, and I hope to tack on a few days in London during my journey back to the States!!!

I’m currently in the process of figuring out my travel arrangements. There are so many different routes to Nice, France, it’s difficult to decide the best way to go. Possibly, I could stop over in New York or Amsterdam or even Paris. I’m hoping my dad (Mr. Globetrotting Lawyer himself) will be able to find me the best deal. Or perhaps I’ll try a travel agent.

The wonderful Naomi Billingsley at The Blake Society sent me a fabulous e-mail detailing all the best ways to see Blake’s work and historical sites in person. She suggested that I make a list of what I want to see, so I’ll be making a number of lists on my blog in an attempt to figure out how to schedule everything into two or three days.

1. The Tate possesses an impressive collection of Blake’s works, but I believe many pieces just returned from Madrid and are not currently on display. I’m hoping that by May this will change. My #1 dream is to see The Ghost of a Flea in person — so I guess I’ll try contacting the Tate and ask them for more information. Naomi pointed out that there are a number of “view by appointment” Blake works at the Tate’s Print Room and that I could make an appointment to see them. I’ll have to browse their online catalogue.
2. The British Museum has some Blake works in their Print Room as well and they are accessible without an appointment.
3. According to Naomi, The Victoria and Albert Museum has four of Blake’s “fresco” paintings on permanent display and a collection of Blake’s watercolors in their Print Room, accessible without an appointment.
4. Naomi also recommended a really amazing page on the Tate’s website detailing Blake historical sites (
   http://www2.tate.org.uk/williamblake/lambeth/london_intro.html
   ). All these sites seem like they’re in a pretty concentrated area, so I think I’ll be able to see a lot of them!!

From here, I’d like to further explore the museum websites/online resources and figure out how much I can see and what I want to see the most in the few days I’m in London!

***

Updates

January 28th

Today, finalized my travel arrangements! On the way from San Francisco to Nice, will be stopping over in Frankfurt. And on the way to London, will be stopping over in Belgium. Will be staying in London for three full days, staying at a decent hotel not far from all the museums and Blake historic sites. Can’t believe this is really happening!!!

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Check Out “The Poet and the Flea”!!

Yesterday, I posted the 10th page of The Poet and the Flea – I can’t believe it! The Flea premiered online November 28th, 2012 and has already received almost 5,000 views. I’m so excited that everyone seems to be enjoying my graphic novel so far and I hope more and more people will begin to read it.

For those of you who have yet to check out The Flea (and for those who wish to read the first 10 pages over again), I’ve included links below. Enjoy!

***

In related news, I just discovered a very long and detailed review of the first 9 pages of The Poet and the Flea by Sarah Goode at University College Oxford on the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies’s website! Wow!!! Check it out here!

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Start from the beginning!

Cover

Title Page

Note

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

***

For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

First Zine and Future Shop

★Please Note: Feedback on this post would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Only January, and I’m already beginning to tackle some of my New Year’s goals (New Year’s Resolutions, Anyone?)!!!

First and foremost, I’ve been working on goal #1, making progress on some of the finished illustrations for Elias & The City of Cats. I’m hoping to make a bit more progress in the coming days and then meet up with Gabe on Friday to show him my work.

In the meantime, I’ve been brainstorming on goals #6 and #7, my first self-printed zine and my online storefront!

Possible envelopes for first zine.

The other day, I decided that my first self-printed zine will be an illustrated poem.

I was doing some research on The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and came across the perfect poem for my first zine! I think this poem will be unexpected and exciting while still tying in with The Poet and the Flea. The poem will remain a secret for now, but I’ll give a free copy of my zine to the first person who can correctly guess which one it is. Hint: The Seven Deadly Sins. I’ll be truly impressed if anyone gets this!

As far as production goes, I’d like to keep this zine relatively simple since it’s my first: about 6 to 8 pages, black and white with simple lines, a number of special hand-watercolored copies, all packaged in a lovely envelope. I’ll probably print about 25 or 30 copies, but I’d love to know if anyone is seriously interested in purchasing a copy so that I can figure out if I need to print more or less.

I’ve been planning my online storefront for a while now, but I’m waiting for the right time to set it up and launch it.

I’ve decided to use Storenvy, because it seems user-friendly and stylish. And it helps that it’s free.

Other than my first self-printed zine, I’d like to offer a wide range of products including The Poet and the Flea merchandise (prints/posters, t-shirts, tote bags, badges/pins, etc.). For prints, I’d like to keep them high-quality but made-to-order so that one can request any page of The Flea or whatnot.

The most ambitious product I’d like to see in my store is a The Flea plush toy. I’ve been playing around with many ideas for this, but know it has to remain relatively simple. The plush toy will definitely be handmade in black fabric, possibly with buttons for eyes and silver/gold (maybe glow-in-the-dark) fabric paint to add texture/scales. It will take me a while to get to this project (and I might recruit some help for it), but I’m excited to see how everything turns out.

Also, I’d like to offer commissioned illustrations, but I have to work out the details on that!

Again, feedback is very welcome! Just leave a comment below or send me an e-mail at gegallas@hotmail.com!

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

Comics I Admire: “Pre-Raphernalia”

Who says comics can’t be educational and hilarious?

Today, I’d like to share a very special online comic I admire very much! Please, let me introduce you to…

Pre-Raphernalia: The Pre-Raph Sketchbook Cartoons of Raine Szramski!

Raine Szramski is the awesome (and, not to mention, super nice) artist/illustrator of Pre-Raphernalia as well as another amazing series called Heaven & the Dead City, which can be either read online here or purchased here.

Pre-Raphernalia centers around the Victorian avant-garde artists known as The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including the likes of John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. These artists were quite eccentric, even by today’s standards, and lived oftentimes rowdy and scandalous lives.

What’s so wonderful about Pre-Raphernalia is that Raine takes the true historical events/relationships/facts and depicts them to the full extent of their eccentricity. When reading, I often find myself laughing out loud! Furthermore, she takes the time to write a full historically-accurate explanation of each comic, thoroughly detailing the backgrounds of each individual involved.

I highly recommend Pre-Raphernalia for anyone who wants to learn a little bit of history while having a fun time doing so.

Below are a number of my favorite images/pages from Pre-Raphernalia.

The following images belong to Raine Szramski.

For more Pre-Raphernalia and Raine Szramski, please check out the following websites…

preraphernalia.blogspot.com

thewatchertree.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/raine.szramski

rainesz.deviantart.com

www.co2comics.com/pages/co2_heaven_and_the_dead_city.html

www.lulu.com/spotlight/co2comics

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas

The Beautiful Blogger Award!

Updates

January 9th:

I’d like to thank Daniel Budiarto/Sky Sairyou of Bottomless Sky (skysairyou.wordpress.com) very very very much for nominating me for The Beautiful Blogger Award for the fourth time! Don’t forget to check out his intriguing short stories.

January 4th:

I’d like to thank the amazing Gabrielle (illostrophy.com) and the wonderful Jiandra (thingiemajingie.wordpress.com) for nominating me a second and third time for The Beautiful Blogger Award! Words cannot express my appreciation!!!

***

I’d like to thank Bhutan Girl (karmakrazy.wordpress.com) very very very much for nominating me for The Beautiful Blogger Award!

How is it that I keep getting all these awards? I know they’re all a little silly, but I really appreciate them because I feel that my blog is at least reaching somebody!

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Rules

1. Link back the person who nominated you.
2. Post the award on your page.
3. Tell seven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate seven bloggers and let them know they have been nominated.

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Facts

Check out these other posts for more than seven facts about me!

1. A Bit More About Me
2. Very Inspiring Blogger Award
3. Reader Appreciation Award
4. Liebster Award

Since this is a ★BEAUTIFUL★ award, I thought I share a photo instead.

***

Nominations

I keep finding such talented artists on WordPress! It’s difficult to choose just seven…

1. aspaceboydreamcomic.wordpress.com
2. thethirdredapple.com
3. universalson.wordpress.com
4. crownsandpeacocks.wordpress.com
5. professionalmoron.com
6. thingiemajingie.wordpress.com
7. strangerillustrations.wordpress.com

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For more updates, don’t forget to follow me on tumblr and/or twitter.

***

Copyright 2013 by G. E. Gallas