"Aphorisms are far from harmless. They are troublemakers and iconoclasts, dogmatists whose majestic authority commands consent. They are, by definition, revolutionaries who hold their truths to be self-evident," writes James Geary in A Brief History of Aphorisms. The Erotic Fire of the Unattainable has a subtle narrative where-in an avant garde artist weaves love with life, art with making a living, and inspiration with the banal realities of daily life. Beginning with "Why Women Fight Pirates," Walley writes, "A real woman will not be content with one man. With one man, she will rage, eat into herself and him. She will jump off the pirate ship onto a ship that is gracefully billowing with sails of humanity and the caring of, a ship full of love, of fools. She will not stay isolated in one man's private war with his maleness." Walley covers such disparate topics as "The Disappointments of Infidelity", "Talk in Love", "Writers", "Work and its Punishments", "The Importance of the Argument", "The Ocean", "New York", and ends on "Deathbed". This unflinching narrative is a journey through an artist's mind, taking us outside the usual confines, to lovers and ex-husbands, traveling, solitude, money and the importance of rebellion. Walley writes, "My friend asks me to describe the best sex I ever had. I have that rare occasion when I can compare myself to another woman. I learn that I am passionate, responsive, available but shy, lacking in self-confidence. What strikes me is that this is how I am out of bed." Gay Walley has published short stories and a novel, Strings Attached, which was a finalist for Pirate's Alley/Faulkner and Capricorn Awards. She lives and works in New York City.