{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0223463687150838, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.78494623655914, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The edge of things

Arja Salafranca’s two-page “Introduction” to her collection of short stories, The edge of things, extols the virtues of the short story genre and delights in the energy recently injected into the publishing of this art. Written in the form of an editorial, this opening naturally also takes the reader on a rather hurried tour of the many related themes contained in the stories. My review, by contrast, focuses on a cumulative impression that the stories make in relation to their challenging South African settings.