The really interesting parts of this book consist of a number of early tales and fragments. There are four stories Lovecraft wrote during his teens, and it is almost incredible to see the distinctive Lovecraft voice and style so well developed at such an early age. "Poetry and the Gods" and "The Street" are unusual and bear an ethereal air that did not find its way into his mature writings, while "The Beast in the Cave" and "The Alchemist" foreshadow the stories whose fame we now celebrate. The four story fragments are fascinating; though incomplete, they easily fit into a Lovecraftian world in that certain sometimes obscure references point to elements, characters, and themes developed more fully in other stories. One begins to see that all of Lovecraft's tales, Mythos and non-Mythos, share a mysterious thread or foundation. It is for this reason that I would not recommend reading this book without having read some of Lovecraft's better known stories. Certainly, those not yet fascinated by Lovecraft will reap small rewards from reading the fragments and early writings, and the other tales collected here are much less satisfying than those of the Cthulhu Mythos.