This collection of short stories explores the blurred lines between identity and reality when the virtual world is concerned. There is a futuristic child protective services worker having to dive into an unpleasant simulation where a man is raising his two children in a Neo-Nazi realm against custody agreements. Rumspringa is now in a virtual world for the Amish. The cheat code for the universe is used with disastrous consequences. There are those who are willing to push themselves with drugs in order to earn a few minutes of virtual gaming time. Communicating with alien cultures is an information diver's dream, but doesn't go according to plan. A virtual prison can't be escaped, especially if the warden is a computer program without humanity.

It's always been a fascinating question to explore what makes us human and what makes up reality. There are a lot of concepts from "The Matrix" movies built into the background of these stories, such as being "plugged in" or needing a computer AI to run various instances of a simulation separately while people are in the virtual world. Other concepts might not be as familiar to some readers, like a universal basic income with jobs being extra on top of that, or that continual surveillance might be a reality. Those are in the background of these stories and not really discussed or developed at length. The focus is instead on human nature, or lack thereof, and how it intersects with technology. It might mean that corporations are in control of data streams and determine the culture of the people subscribing to that data stream. It might mean that there is no longer any physical contact with people and it's all virtual interaction with avatars. It might mean that families and relationships aren't as important as chasing the next high.

The stories here are great at envisioning their futures even with a low word count. They'll make you think about how connected or plugged in you are, and how much actual human contact you have. This is probably the point, and it would make for a great conversation piece or book club reading.

"Restricted Fantasies to me was a collection of short stories where several felt like the same story with a few tweaks. The comparison to the TV Show 'Black Mirror' also fell flat as one of the stories seemed directly ripped from the show..
A couple of the stories stood out as truly good reading and I wish there had been more of those. Second Honeymoon was a fascinating jaunt into what we do to save a relationship and ourselves when given free rein.
Rumspringa was well was well thought out and written and a bit creepy in the right ways to think maybe we ruined Earth enough that only those who tried to cherish it were able to stay.
Cheat Code seemed like a repeat of a few other stories/tv shows and it could have with just a couple tweaks made very valuable points.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

As I read the description, “A Black Mirror-style sci-fi short story collection about the perils of our virtual reality future – and whether we’re already living in it.”, I was intrigued. For those that don’t know “Black Mirror” is a British TV show that is available on Netflix. “Black Mirror” is a contemporary reworking of “The Twilight Zone” and is described by Netflix as a “sci-fi anthology series explores a twisted, high-tech near-future where humanity’s greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide.”

Describing “Restricted Fantasies” by Kevin Kneupper as being written in Black Mirror-style is an actuate description. Each stand-alone story in both features its own cast of unique characters. As with “Black Mirror”, this is not a collection to sit and read straight through. The stories make you think and mess with your mind. They need to be digested, thought through, and processed.

I do not want to discuss any of the individual stories as I do not want to mention any spoilers. With many of the stories I needed a few hours, if not days, to process. I highly recommend “Restricted Fantasies” to anyone who can read it and process it. I would not recommend reading it in one sitting.

Virtual reality short stories set in different environments loved the possibilities that this book explored, a great read.

ARC received from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In summary: These were all stories challenging the reader with reality, or at least our perception of reality. It brought up a few good questions while I was reading. I would certainly look for more work by Kneupper.

I am going to be giving little reviews for each short story. If I wait until I have finished the collection I am sure I wont remember enough details.

Seven Minutes in Heaven
Not very twisty but certainly a Dark Mirror vibe going.
Definitely feeling like this at work right now. *swipeswipeswipe*

Restricted Fantasies
A slightly twisted review on a story coming full circle. Both sides of the coin are seen and both of them are tarnished.
Good follow up story would be on the two girls.

Panopticon
This one is glaringly similar to quite a few Dark Mirror episodes.
The best prison is our own mind.

Second Honeymoon
Where we start to question glitch vs. hack.
Not twisty, just disturbed.

Irish Grudge
The dangers of not letting things go is living in the past.

First Contact
In a universe where all alien species we come into contact with have withdrawn into their own simulated realities. One Peeping Tom gets an eye full. Evolution at its end?

The Only Way Out is Down
LoL Penisiraptors *smh*
What would you do if you could create your own reality? Would you go down the rabbit hole?

Cheat Code
A perfect 'careful what you wish for' story.

Rumspringa
The Amish take care of the "English" that have sunk into their made up worlds. Lots of interesting angles to think about here. One of the most complete stories, favorite so far.

Smartest Guy in the Room
Do you choose to take the red pill or the blue pill?
What if you wish that you could just go back.

Pleasuredome
After spending an eternity being anyone you want to be are you even 'you' anymore?

nifty book idea! multiple short stories all nestled within one reality. This book was very engaging as it shows the realm and expanse inside the mind!

Highly, HIGHLY recommend this collection of stories. Favorites were: "restricted fantasies", "Pancopticon" and "Rumspringa".

Like all truly great science fiction, this gives us a glimpse of worlds that could so easily turn out to be our future.
With an ever increasing population and half of our jobs taken away from us by computers, AIs and smart systems what will the world do? The answer may well be to live our lives in simulated worlds of infinite possibilities. Kevin Kneupper brilliantly takes this idea and shows us that all may not be freedom and pleasure. he brilliantly imagines the dark side of virtual reality.

Kneupper uses this collection of short stories to ask where our technology is taking us, what is real and what is virtual realities place in the future. He speculates on where the technology could lead us.

Everything about this screamed Black Mirror. I’ve only watched one season, but it felt like this was very much inspired by the questions asked in the show and the style. The writing was good and there were a couple of stand out stories. The prison story was my favourite, it was so messed up and well put together. In theory the way of punishing criminals could almost sound like a good idea, but I think like a lot of these stories, it shows how easy it is to forget that the virtual reality is actually messing with someone’s mind. Yes the body is fine as it’s not real, but it is very real to the mind.
Some of the stories did blend together and a couple weren’t my cup of tea, but I think that a lot of people will really enjoy the book. I’m slowly working my way into the sci-fi genre, but this was a little to far in for me. It has had some great reviews, so make sure to check those out.

WONDERFUL!!! Some of these stories really creeped me out! I hope to read more from this author soon.

A great collection of stories with the common thread of terrifying technology.. Some of them I wished were full-length books! Very Black Mirror.

Full disclosure, I ended up getting an ARC of this book for review.

I am normally not one for short stories, or anthologies of them., A lot of the time there's maybe one good story, and then the rest are filler, or the entire book is nothing but reject pile nonsense that isn't worth reading. I'm very glad to say that this book is the exception to that rule. Great stories, interesting plots, and no "filler" stories in the set.

There are a few that are pretty haunting, and some that will stick with you. I've recommended this book to a few people based on them looking for some great writing and some interesting premises used for the tales.

All in all, it's a terrific book, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who finds the Black Mirror/technology area an interesting playground.

Overall average rating for this collection: 3.7 stars

Pretty great collection of short stories featuring the topic of virtual reality. Publisher is comparing it to the sci-fic TV show, Black Mirror. I didn't particularly like every single story but overall, I enjoyed the collection.

Each of these stories stands alone, so it's great for picking up during down time. Each story explores what can happen when we push the integration of humanity and technology to its limit and beyond. This collection is entertaining and thought provoking! While some stories are deeper than others, Restricted Fantasies is a welcome addition to the world of dystopian fiction.

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

Eleven short stories, each nested within the idea of simulated reality.  The notion is that the present is the only reality, that memories can be flawed, and that the future is but a dream.  How is it possible to determine the difference between dreams, fantasies, illusions, and virtual reality?  Wishes on a rampage, mass hallucination, facades, the body sleeps while the mind is at play.  Standout for me was Smartest Guy in the Room.

Enjoyed probably about 2/3 of the stories which is often good when reading an anthology from different authors. These were all short stories by the same author though which is why I gave it three stars, meaning I liked it but didn't strongly like it. There were a few very strong stories but a few were kind of weak. Each story wasn't too long though so the lesser ones we not that long. The prison story was one that I think I will remember the longest.

As described, this book of short stories reads delightfully and disturbingly like episodes of "Black Mirror" on Netflix. The difference with these is that they are all about altered realities via simulated universe/virtual reality scenarios. I was so impressed that one author could write so many varied-yet-well-written stories about a basically same device. While I do wish there were some variance from the VR scenario, they were good enough that I only grew a little weary by the last one or two stories. And maybe the best ones were at the first third of the book, but that's still pretty good for a collection of stories. Off you like this kind of tech sci fi, don't let the slightly self-published-looking cover away you from this sci fi gem (there are so many poorly written sci fi collections, I realize).

Nightmare fuel for the technically-minded. Some near-future sci-fi tropes (VR vacations, digital policing) are given a slightly new spin to produce some truly dark and twisted views on our technological possibilities. Trigger warnings for rape, Holocaust scenes, and acute psychological horror are necessary.

This is a collection of short stories, some more intense than others. They are all somewhat similar in the dystopian nature of the landscapes, but the author does a good job of describing why the person might be taking the actions that they do in each. Not my normal type of reading, but it was okay for a change of pace.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review via NetGalley. However, I hold to the integrity & honesty of my reviews, and "free books" does not influence my opinions.

I had a ton of fun with this book. You can get the description from others. (It's a collection of short stories about virtual reality.) But you can't get the sense of inventiveness & interesting ideas without reading it yourself.

The reason I found this book worth 5-stars (which is rare for me, by my rules here: https://startupdj.com/book-rating-rules) is because of the mental innovation required to think up these scenarios. While many hard-ish SciFi books are innovative, I felt this one showed a level of thoughtful exercise that rises to a higher level than average.

I will say that several of the same stories essentially explored the same idea; but the fact that a separate story could be made so compellingly well is another testament to the agility of the author.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.