Eve's Apple by Peter Benton

SPFBO9

A band of medieval castaways is stranded in an Otherworld they first believe is paradise. However, they come to believe that a toxic tree fruit enhancing the beauty and power of their women is an offering by the devil. This ‘Eve’s Apple’ eventually upsets the established patriarchic order. Over a millennium later, Howard and Julia tumble into this alien world as a couple settled comfortably in a relationship based on her supremely self-confident boyfriend’s need to take care of his insecure girlfriend. Civilization is now thriving there with absurdly powerful women due to an uncontrollable addiction to the refined extract of the tree fruit. Their relationships with the weaker male sex are generally based on some form of explicit or implicit domination. Men are mainly objects of their outsized erotic appetites or perform menial service. After a period of disorientation where the couple unsuccessfully attempts to extract themselves quickly from this upsetting situation to return to their previous comfortable lives, Julia is relentlessly tempted by her host to become like the women of this new world and eventually succumbs in an act of betrayal of Howard who reacts adversely to the breach of trust and begins to reject his girlfriend on account of jealousy and fear. Julia doesn’t understand his problems as she considers the change to be a purely practical matter to protect themselves while they figure out how to leave this world. As Howard realizes the enormous magnitude of Julia’s new abilities he withdraws ever more to the ongoing disappointment of Julia. In the wake of a relationship in crisis, Julia warms up to what the new world has to offer to women and begins to indulge. In the process, Julia realizes that something new inside her makes her prone to act and feel in ways that she would never have condoned before, and is deeply conflicted about that. Gradually she begins to see fault in Howard for this state of their affairs and prods him to adapt which he refuses to do despite several cathartic experiences he is subjected to. Eventually, she loses patience and lets her new nature break free after giving her boyfriend a debilitating taste of her power.