In my post in July I wrote about the September publication of COLLAGES, a collection of new writing by students on Maggie Hamand’s wonderful CCWC courses. Maggie has kindly included an extract from my third novel, a work in progress called For the Love of Life, in the collection and now you can buy COLLAGES here, if you’d like to.
And isn’t it delightful that the Man Booker Shortlist is described as ‘fiendishly difficult to categorise’? That:
It is clear that the perennial complaint that fiction is too safe and unadventurous is a ridiculous one; it [this shortlist] shows that the novel remains a multi-faceted thing; that writing and inspiration knows no geographical borders; that diaspora tales are a powerful strand in imaginative thinking; and that human voices, in all their diversity, drive fiction.
‘Human voices in all their diversity drive fiction.’ Brilliant. And how difficult it will be for the judges to choose a winner on October 15th.
And the thing I’d like to have made this month is the most delicious cheese I’ve ever tasted. I keep buying it. 
You can buy it here if you feel like it, or if you can’t actually buy it from there you can find out more about it from there. And as they say here it’s made from pasteurised goat’s milk and it’s an intense combination of vanilla and toffee and has a fruity character … strange, I know, but it’s the farthest thing from plastic, red-skinned gouda you’ll ever get. And it isn’t nostril-wideningly goaty either. It’s just delicious and if I was a goat cheese-maker I’d never stop making this cheese. I think this is where it’s made (the Klaver brothers are mentioned in the publicity), but when I buy it here in the UK it’s got a black skin so I hope I’ve got the right Dutch Klaver brothers . . . .
