Book Review: Restricted Fantasies by Kevin Kneupper *****

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.

It is impressive how Kneupper is able to inhabit the minds of a plethora of different characters, 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.

From July 15, 2018