Terrifying Tales Unleashed: Unsettling Stories to Remedy Peaceful Slumber is a horror anthology by Scott D. Gottschalk. With a passion for caves, Kirk sets out on his own to explore depths he couldn’t have imagined. Blondie’s ability to connect with people in society is severely ruined by how she was conceived and brought into the world. Ridicule drove Blondie to concoct a devilishly bloody plan. Clark’s love for weaponry thrilled his parents so much that they even allowed him to hunt a bear during their trip to Alaska. Would his hunting skills be something to be proud of, or would they turn out to be a terrifying problem that could get him or someone else killed?

Terrifying Tales Unleashed is a thrill ride of a horror collection! Once I got started on Kirk’s cave explorations, I couldn’t stop. Each story has a unique setting and plot that effortlessly drew me in, and I love how each character had an unexpected personality trait that pulled me in even more. Just when I thought Gottschalk had done about as much twisting as one book could have, he riveted me with another tale. Even though all the stories in this collection are amazing, my favorite has to be Vampires Within The Attic. I recommend Terrifying Tales Unleashed by Scott D. Gottschalk to those who like thrillers and horror stories which keep them wondering what will happen next, as well as what wild ideas the author will throw at them next. This collection will easily become a favorite for anyone who enjoys terrifying stories. I hope that the author has more collections like this one to thrill readers for years to come.

Terrifying Tales Unleashed: Unsettling Stories to Remedy Peaceful Slumber by Scott D. Gottschalk is an anthology of nine tales with themes of horror, thriller, science fiction, crime, and mystery. Some stories are about mundane things in normal people’s lives that spiral out of control, and others are about the supernatural. For instance, the first story is about Kirk and his love for caves. Berry is featured in the next tale and it covers his lifelong passion for rats. Then, there’s Hitler Death Camp Haunting which centers around Sheila and how her trip to Poland took a different turn. To start, Scott D. Gottschalk defines the words “terror” and “unleash” to give us the proper mindset while reading the tales in this compendium. Stories don’t need to be grotesque and otherworldly all the time. Certain realistic things can cause terror.

As a lover of horror, mystery, and all those dark genres, Terrifying Tales Unleashed is a perfect addition to my collection. There’s a diversity among the nine tales and the plot for each one takes you to different worlds. I have my favorites but I enjoyed them all. The pacing of each story is just right, too. The action is also perfectly paired with the type of tale you are reading. Some of these stories tend to be intense because it’s out there in the wild while others are subtle because the focus is on the relationships of the main characters. The main characters are still relatable even when many of them display an intense desire for various things. They are also, collectively, the perfect example of what happens if you take things a little too far – most especially when it comes to love. This collection by Scott D. Gottschalk is about terror but these are not just horror stories. The themes vary from thriller, crime, science fiction, and even to romance gone wrong.

Terrifying Tales Unleashed by Scott D. Gottschalk is a collection of the author's original short stories, each independent of the other. Gottschalk presents nineteen tales in their entirety, ranging in length, tone, and tenor, but also in the subgenres they inhabit. All are categorically horror, but they expand into elements of the paranormal, supernatural, science fiction, and fantasy. These range from the terrifyingly grotesque creature-feature of Flesh-Eater From Perdition, in which a couple purchases their own fixer-upper home near a swamp only to experience the unraveling of a seemingly hopeful situation into an unimaginable nightmare, to Motorcycle Annihilation, a foreboding tragedy of paranormal realism with a biker named Prescott that depicts the haunting consequences of unchecked obsession and the fragility of human life in the face of extreme challenges.

Terrifying Tales Unleashed by Scott D. Gottschalk is a fantastic anthology, standing out in the pack for the diversity of stories and Gottschalk's ability to switch gears while still giving readers what they want: heart-stopping, hair-raising thrills. The writing is clean and completely accessible, and the author's skill at taking relatively brief arcs and turning them into immersive experiences is the mark of a seasoned writer. My favorite is the science fiction underdog story called Alien Experimentation, wherein Trent, a mechanically inclined but mercilessly bullied youth, is swept up with other community members by an extraterrestrial force, subjected to horrific experiments and dissection, but with a chance to show the world how special he really is. I enjoyed every moment of reading these stories, but do warn readers in advance not to love anything “more than life itself” until you see how that panned out for Mona. Very highly recommended.