If Nothing Else, Eve, We've Enjoyed the Fruit

by Elaine Pascale

What happens when a kept woman refuses to take her ridatemp and begins thinking for herself? In If Nothing Else, Eve, We've Enjoyed the Fruit; she begins talking to bunches of grapes and cantaloupe that convince her to commit murder. Through her visitations with fruit, the woman learns that a gender war can be reversed by traveling back in time and eradicating the Tree of Knowledge and its villainous apples. The fruit persuade her by telling her four other stories:
Boys Will be Boys: A spa is turned into a concentration camp: just don't ride the elevators!

Ripped to Shreds: Pregnant Jody Burkhoff's body is changing rapidly, but not as quickly as the lupine metamorphosis of her husband. First the neighborhood animals are mutilated, then the neighbors are viciously murdered. Which proves to be more dangerous, a monstrous creature or a hormonal woman?

O: Khaki Barlow enters a pageant in which only one woman survives. She must complete tasks that are both mentally and physically daunting, all while trying to learn the meaning of the words left by the eliminated: I am here. Does she face incredible fears? Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?

The Prison of a Man: Told as an ethnographical project, Lara Thomas researches the deaths of shoppers at a mall embedded in a small town, and encounters the legendary Goat Man.

If Nothing Else (Prologue): Readers learn the final decision in the gender war.

78 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 24, 2019

About the author

Elaine Pascale is the author of The Blood Lights; If Nothing Else, Eve, We’ve Enjoyed the Fruit; The Kitchen Witches; The Language of Crows; and the soon to be released The Solstice. She is the co-editor of Dancing in the Shadows: A Tribute to Anne Rice. She is a regular contributor to Pen of the Damned and the Ladies of Horror Picture-Prompt Challenge. Elaine enjoys chocolate, a robust full moon, reading spam emails, and paddleboarding.
Find out more at elainepascale.com, https://www.amazon.com/author/elainep..., Facebook: elaine.pascale
X and Instagram: @doclaney
TikTok @elainepascale
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elainepascal...
Newsletter: https://elainepascale.substack.com/

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elaine Pascale's collection is nothing but amazing. The writing is so exact, the stories clever and skillfully presented, and the ideas are unique. I've rarely read a collection I've enjoyed as much. This book is special and while there's definitely a darkness to each tale and the sensibilities are current for all intelligent people, this is great entertainment and not to be missed. I'd begun to despair of finding smart and fresh work, but here it is, and this book should be noticed, read and an award-winner.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Nothing Else, Eve, We've Enjoyed the Fruit is an oddly strange collection of four short stories told to the main character by some fruit. Yes, I did say fruit. Honestly, this book is hard to describe. At least at the beginning. It's a bit wild, but once the short stories start, it gets to be weirdly fascinating.
I think my favorite of the short stories is The Prison of a Man. It's a complete mindf*ck, and it's told from multiple points of view. Set in a mall in a small town with a legend about a goat man, I was both disturbed and intrigued. I don't do well with goats (they're a big fear for me), and the thought of a goat man horrifies me, but crazily enough, this story was my favorite. It's definitely out there.
I also liked O, although I wish that had ended differently. It makes sense the way it did, but I still wanted something a bit more, I guess.
Boys Will be Boys and Ripped to Shreds were okay. I just wanted the former to be fleshed out more. The premise behind that story is definitely unique, and I really wish it had been a full formed idea-turned-novel instead. And Ripped to Shreds was just...okay.
Overall, if you like horror (especially short horror stories) or eclectic fiction that will mess with your head, you'll want to check out Eve.
3.5 stars from me.