A FORMER Argus editor has released a book of short stories, almost 30 years after leaving the paper.

And his publisher is a former freelance journalist who worked for the Argus at the same time.

Steve Hoselitz edited the paper in the 1980s and 1990s before leaving to set up his own media consultancy.

His short story collection is called Available Light and is available on Amazon.

Steve said: "Being a journalist, people think that the transition to fiction is straightforward – no jokes here please – but it needs a completely different approach which I have found really tricky to learn.

"I joined a creative writing group about a decade ago and learned so much from other authors."

Steve, who is 76 and lives near Usk, still works as a journalist and is also a potter and a besotted grandfather.

Available Light is a collection of more than 30 of his short stories and a few poems. Some are semi auto-biographical – emphasis on the ‘semi’ – while others are total flights of fancy.

He said: "I don’t always know where the ideas come from, but fortunately, they keep on coming."

The book is published by Saron Publishers, of Mamhilad, founded by Penny Reeves, a feature writer who founded her publishing company 20 years ago producing niche magazines.

Saron’s first venture into books took place in 2016 when they published The Meanderings of Bing by Tim Harnden-Taylor. Further authors now include: Eugene Barter, David Collard, Alton Douglas, Julie Hamill, Graham Harris, Nigel Jarrett - another former Argus journalist, David Kenny, Sylvia Mason and Kevin Moore.