I thought the first three stories were ok, but the fourth was so horrendously misogynistic that I was put off reading any further.

For fans of Black Mirror & intense sci-fi. We were so busy trying to figure out how to, say, create virtual realities that a given user can tailor to their specific, horrific fantasies, we never stopped to ask if we should. Short, snappy stories that will remain with the reader long after they've finished.

I was really digging this book for awhile, and it does have a very Black Mirror/The Matrix-type slant. However, the cracks started to show about halfway through. While Black Mirror covers an entire spectrum of how Technology merges with the human condition, this set of short stories only focuses on virtual reality. Unfortunately, it begins to feel repetitive and it's a little insulting that out of eleven stories, only two are told from the perspective of a female. There were a few stand-out stories, namely Restricted Fantasies and Panopticon, but the remaining were just kinda "meh" and occasionally derivative. So some good, some eh overall it was an okay read.

Restricted Fantasies is a short story collections focusing on technology and human's interactions with it. While this collection has a Phillip K. Dick to it, the majority of stories are less involved and truly thought out. There are some great stories. The first in the book reminds me of childhood computer class: do a lot of math to get to a two minute game. The title story is wonderful with some great depth. The majority of other stories get you at the end and leave you almost hanging with emotion. These have never been my favorite types of stories; I always wanted to know the fall out.
Kneupper does manage to get the perfect picture of human neuroticism and warns of us of a way we need not tread.

At least since I saw the movie The Matrix, I, along with many others, have been fascinated by the idea that our reality is not reality, but a simulation, and of course virtual reality, where we enter into a simulation from the real world, has provided endless fodder for speculation as well. The well-written and thought-provoking stories in Kevin Kneupper’s Restricted Fantasies explore the possibilities from a wide variety of perspectives, virtually all of them disturbing.

Kneupper is able to inhabit the minds of a plethora of different character types, from a bereft Amish mother to a self-educated college janitor to a disreputable “info diver” in the distant future, and he brings the reader there with him, allowing us to feel their frustrations, regrets, and ambitions. His settings are as varied, from the near (and frighteningly) plausible future of “Seven Minutes in Heaven” to a simulated prison in which inmates can virtually experience a sentence of several lifetimes in seconds or minutes (“Panopticon” - a reference to a system of control proposed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the 19th century) to distant futures similar to The Matrix where humans (or non-humans) live entire lifetimes or longer in simulations as their bodies lie immobile in vats. Every one of these stories sucked me into its vividly imagined world, and not one of them disappointed. A very impressive collection.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised by this short story collection. The execution wasn't something I'd call literarily masterful, and I'd be remiss not to mention that you will cringe at a few anti-trans, misogynistic moments, but I still wanted to keep reading to the end. If you're looking for a mindless read that rehashes the basics of the spec fic sci fi, this is it.

I loved this book! Being a huge fan of Black Mirror and science fiction related to virtual reality this book was perfect for me. The author is able to write about absurd and outrageous situations in a way that makes them seem possible and believable, I hope to see much more from him,

The book, Restricted Fantasies by Kevin Kneupper, is compiled of short science fiction stories. All the stories have in common the fact that you can suspend reality and believe that they could happen at some point in the future. I don't usually read short stories but really enjoyed this book. I was given a copy to review.

An interesting series of Short Stories into the world of the digital. Not quite LITrpg or Gamelit but of a similar style. I enjoyed most of the stories, and they provided a unique look at what some of this genre could become.

Restricted Fantasies is an anthology of eleven science fiction stories that take virtual reality to a whole new dimension. I did not want to put this book down and yet each story is satisfying so that it’s the perfect book for reading a story during your lunch hour or work break. I found the stories to be a fun read and I could see the possibilities of this fiction becoming reality. What person who has ever played the simple games on their phone who didn’t say “just one more level” or “just five more minutes”? And it’s never one more level. Those five minutes easily turn into two hours. How long would you stay in the game when it’s as real as real can get and the world is exactly all you dream it to be? These stories also show the pitfalls. Be careful what you ask for. You just may get it.

Kevin Dneupper, the author, also did a fine job creating these worlds. Not all of them are dreams. This book stays on my “read again” list.

This self published collection of short stories caught my eye because it was compared to Black Mirror. 

I'm basically addicted to Black Mirror and its Amazon counterpart, Electric Dreams. 

While I am not generally a fan of short stories (David Sedaris aside), I really love speculative fiction, and this collection did not disappoint.

The comparison to Black Mirror is apt and the writing is top notch. It's not easy to create so many unique voices in such a small space, but each narration is distinct, which prevented the stories from melding together in my mind. 

My favorite stories were Rumspringa, which is a dystopian take on what happens when Amish youth enter a simulation and must choose between staying or leaving to join the church, and The Only Way Out is Down, which is a cautionary tale about what can go wrong when you give the wrong man just the tiniest bit of power. 

From a speculative fiction viewpoint, I give Restricted Fantasies five out of five stars, and four out of five stars in general. 

Thanks go to Kevin Kneupper for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a novel, this was an intriguing journey into the Sci-Fi genre. Each short was intense and had endings that you were not expecting. Some were thought provoking, others were funny, and each one was rather deranged in a pleasurable way.

I rather enjoyed this collection because the stories were more realistically futuristic. There were a lot of stories about simulations and computers as opposed to aliens and intergalactic wars.

Terrific set of shorts all connected by the theme of virtual reality and how reality and virtual reality blur. Some virtual realities are carefully constructed and trimmed and monitored. Others are prison traps where a second can feel like 284 torturous years. Others are worlds within worlds within worlds to the point you begin to wonder what's real and what's virtual. Clever, engaging, and lots of fun to read.

eviews > Restricted Fantasies
Restricted Fantasies by Kevin Kneupper
Restricted Fantasies
by Kevin Kneupper (Goodreads Author)

M 50x66
Lou Jacobs's review
Jul 02, 2018 · edit

really liked it

You are entering the "Twilight Zone".... a collection of 12 stories that are connected by the concept of Virtual Reality. Kneupper has succeeded in a quality collection of highly effective stories of fairly equal expertise without any "clunkers" Numerous tales involving the ability to simulate an alternative reality are explored and open up a multitude of philosophical quandaries of the human condition.
A child protective services worker has to enter a Nazi simulation to rescue the protagonists two daughters from a bizarre alternative reality .... An Amish woman on Rumspringa lives vicariously in a futuristic alternative reality and has to decide if "going home" is an option .... the stories uncover an endless variety of virtual reality addicts and settings ... an existential prison ruled by a tyrannical computer program
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.

Good collection of sci-fi short stories. I really enjoyed the theme about living in a simulation and all the different stories about them. It's also kind of scary and concerning when you realize that some of these things could be in our future and that we could really be living in a simulation.

I say it every time and I’ll say it again now. Single-author collections are hit-and-miss. The best of these stories would make good episodes of whatever the current equivalent of the Twilight Zone is, and the worst of these are often more like scenarios than stories (there’s no punchline). Others are too preachy about the evils of VR. It can’t be all bad but I guess he wasn’t up for writing a utopian book.

If that sounds too negative, the stories I like I really like. Kudos to the author for writing a concept collection like this. I’d like to see him take these same ideas and make a single novel out of them.

I like his writing style and will be checking out his published work next.

This book is ok. It is unfortunate it is compared with Black Mirror, as it isn’t on that level. black Mirror often provides a scathing commentary of modern society from its horror perspective. The stories in this are interesting and creepy, but don’t really seem to be trying to make any comment or point, they are just horror/sci-fi for the sake of being horror/sci-fi.

Some use very shocking topics but don’t utilize the material to make a point as much as using them for shock value. Generally speaking I can come along with such topics if it goes somewhere, but this felt gratuitous.

The writing isn’t bad and the style is enjoyable, I just wish the author would have a stronger point of view. The stories all have strong potential to be more, but are just short achieving that.

I was a little disappointed In this volume, but I will follow this author because I feel there is strong potential for something great in the future.

This was a fantastic, compelling, slightly disturbing little collection of speculative sci-fi. The description of a Black Mirror read-alike was accurate and did not disappoint! I really enjoyed these stories.

I read a lot of sci-fi, and this was one of the first purely speculative fiction pieces I have read. Far from the typical blasters and 'bots, this is a great near-future commentary on our own times and its foibles. I really enjoyed how each simulation experience left you wanting to return to the real world. I also found it a sad commentary that, like in the contemporary world, everyone is seeking an escape from our daily hum-drum existence, only to find out that the life of our dreams isn't all it's cracked up to be. The work is reminiscent of Stephen King's "NeedfulThings".