The book collects one prose poem and ten tales of the author's Hyperborean cycle, set on a prehistoric lost northern continent Smith named for the mythological land of Hyperborea, with an introduction and map by Carter. One story from the sequence, the fragment "The House of Haon-Dor," is omitted. The editor also includes in the collection four additional tales of Smith's from what he took to be a similar but more fragmentary sequence of stories.

• "Introduction" (Lin Carter)
• Hyperborea

• "The Muse of Hyperborea" (prose poem)
• "The Seven Geases"
• "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan"
• "The White Sybil"
• "The Testament of Athammaus"
• "The Coming of the White Worm"
• "Ubbo-Sathla"
• "The Door to Saturn"
• "The Ice-Demon"
• "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros"
• "The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles"

• The World's Rim

• "The Abominations of Yondo"
• "The Desolation of Soom" (prose poem)
• "The Passing of Aphrodite" (prose poem)
• "The Memnons of the Night" (prose poem)

• "Notes on the Commoriom Myth-Cycle", by Lin Carter

L. Sprague de Camp in Amra favoured the collection with "There has never been anyone like CAS."^[2] Fritz Leiber in Whispers critiqued "I do not fault Smith for using such words as "nefarious" and "cacodaemonic," and for sometimes using three words where one might do."^[3] Robert FitzOsbert in Luna Monthly said "Hyperborea, with all of Smith's work, is Dunsanean in vision, Lovecraftian in its brooding, even sinister atmosphere, almost Howard-like in evoking entire fantasy worlds more through patient cultivation of epic myth than through sterile pseudo-science that marks the worst of today's efforts in this genre."^[4]