A GWENT author has released a collection of short stories set in Newport, with its title inspired by one of the city’s oldest pubs.

The book Tales From The Murenger: Stories to darken the soul is an anthology of dark fantasy from Monmouth writer Michael Keyton.

Its namesake, Ye Olde Murenger House on High Street, acts as a “centre point” for what happens in each of the stories.

Readers from the city will recognise various roads and fantastical versions of the market, docks and the Transporter Bridge.

One story is also centred on the village of Tintern in Monmouthshire.

Mr Keyton, a former history teacher at St Joseph’s RC High School, said that the fictional Newport in his work is based on the idea of ‘Arkham’, the dark fictional town at the centre of H.P. Lovecraft’s work.

He said: "Some may object to my depiction of Newport as a dark and seedy, magical city, but for me dark and seedy suggests fertility, and there’s no doubt Newport is magical, if you know where to look."

Several Newport landmarks were in the running for this role according to Liverpool native Mr Keyton, who now lives in Osbaston.

"I settled on the Murenger as I knew people would recognise it," he admitted.

“It’s somewhere I’ve known since I first came to Newport more than 30 years ago and I’ve been going ever since."

Mr Keyton’s work has received some recognition in dark fantasy anthologies published in the United States.

The first story in the collection, ‘Mr Nousel’s Mirror’, was given an honourable mention in anthologist Ellen Datlow’s ‘Best Horror of the Year’ in 2011, along with works from Stephen King and Jack Ketchum.

The book, which was released on February 1, is available at http://tinyurl.com/zs9vkpk.