Restricted Fantasies is a collection of short stories which have the common theme of VR worlds. Many of the stories deal with subject matter that may be disturbing to some such as the one about a government agent searching for 2 girls who have been kidnapped by their neo-Nazi father and are plugged into his Nazi fantasy world. Most are an interesting look at how a technology we have to day could be turned into a paradise for some while being hell for others.
The stories are not overly long, which makes it easy to read one or two, set the book aside and come back to it later. Science fiction fans, particularly those who liked "Snow Crash" will enjoy.

Wow! I cannot say enough great things about this book. It is a book of short stories that may last a few pages to a dozen pages each. Each story is so well developed. I was so amazed at the creativity. Each story leaves you left in thought, good thought about the possibilities. Thoughts of what if?! There are twists and moments of awe with how the story turns. I found that this took me longer to read than a novel because I wanted to stop after each story just to take it in and think more about it. Well done! This reminded me of a mix between Dimension 404 and the Twilight Zone.

I really liked the different stories of this book. Futuristic stories with twists and a depth of imagination. Very well done.

Restricted Fantasies is a collection of short stories that are completely fine but I found that too many of them were too similar to be enjoyable for me. Several times I felt deja vu as though I was reading the same story for a second or third time.

There is a common theme that runs throughout each story in this collection - how technology will affect and radically alter the future of mankind. This is being billed as great for fans of the TV show Black Mirror but to me, that just feels like a cheap way to get people to pick up this book. Yes, these stories have to do with technology, but there isn't much heart to them. What makes Black Mirror so effective is the ability that the show has to create a very human and relatable element to each story. I thought humanity was missing from a lot of these stories.

That being said, there were a few standouts in here for me - particularly Rumspringa and Smartest Guy in the Room. I think that there would be potential for these to be expanded into full-length novels, as the short story format always leaves a little something to be desired.

Short stories often work best, in my opinion, when they are simple. The subject matter in this collection begs for more world building and explanation and in order to make each story fit approximately 30 pages or so, a lot of that necessary explanation is sacrificed which ends up making these all feel too rushed.

I received this ARC as a courtesy from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This collection of VR stories is full of twists and turns. When you venture into the worlds this collection offers you will question the possibilities of AI. Some are scary some are amazing, all are frightening. This review is via NETGALLEY.

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.