An member of staff at an Abergavenny care home has published a book a decade after writing his first piece, with a collection of stories now available in paperback and online.

Matt Purkiss is hoping his latest book will be a best-seller after rediscovering his love for writing and releasing New Fears Unlocked, which is a collection of short stories compiled into one book.

He explained the approach is slightly different from his previous work and has helped in rediscover his love for writing.

“All my books until now have been psychological thrillers but I have become confident in my writing I wanted to try different things and am delighted with how all the stories have come out,” he said.

“I can’t wait to see the reaction to the book and am hoping that people who have bought my previous books will buy this one as well, but also that I will attract new readers too.”

Matt took a break from writing to concentrate on other areas in 2017, including his career as a Care Assistant at the Dormy Care Communities owned Foxhunters Care Community in Llanfoist, before re-releasing his three books at a trilogy in 2024.

This spurred him to start writing again and at the end of last year he published a psychological horror story called Spirals of Grey which was available as a book and e-book from Amazon.

The stories in the new book are called Paralysis, Bites, The Dollhouse Maker and House and have been written in different genres.

he book was released on 21st August in paperback and on Kindle, via Amazon.

Matt has definitely rediscovered his mojo when it comes to writing and even though the ink on this newest book is still not dry, he has already nearly completed writing on his next book which he hopes to publish in early 2026.

“It’s safe to say the creative juices are definitely flowing and I have ten more books planned for the future so it’s very exciting times,” says Matt.

“I have even got a team behind me now who help me out of the kindness of their hearts, editing and proofing, taking pictures for the book covers and supporting with the marketing.”

The care worker may well be chasing his dreams, but says he also lives his jon at the care home and enjoys the balance that both lines of work offer him.

Matt says although becoming a professional author would be a dream come true, he has no plans to quit his day job just yet.

“I love working in care at Foxhunters and at the moment I have the best of both worlds,” he says.

“The residents at Foxhunters enjoy hearing about my books and some of the stories they tell me about their lives provide inspiration for future storylines.”

The author has over a thousand followers on social media and the book is now available to purchase via amazon via Kindle or in paperback.