'Upon the Rock' is a blend of narrative voices and styles that tells the story of Marcus Baird, a gay man from Townsville, and Aemilius, a character from a novel set in Ancient Rome written by Aaron J Clarke. Marcus Baird hopes to win the author's affections. His quest for love leads him to England where he is imprisoned in the writer's house. During his captivity, he is forced to confess his darkest secrets hoping to gain absolution and, most importantly, Aaron's love. Likewise, Aemilius hopes to win the affections of Culcita, a dangerous youth who threatens the Roman Republic. Aemilius' quest for love results in him writing his life story and that of Rome's, where deception leads to murder.

The seven stories in this selection span Clarke's early career, ranging from The Woman in Question, a drug affected man who is unable to let go of the woman he loves that ultimately leads him to the person responsible for her death. In The Wager, an unscrupulous man bets that a black servant won't be accepted into English high society; in The Unyielding Wind, Clarke reimagines the myth of Pan and Syrinx; and in Stabat Mater, an unhappy wife discovers her husband is having an affair with her sister that leads to a chain reaction resulting in murder and moral depravity. The haunting, The Unobtainable Agnes depicts a young man's love for an older woman, who happens to be a nun and the resulting emotional tension that follows. Beautifully drawn, Clarke's stories are as rich and resonant as his novels.