MUCH discussion has taken place this week in the online literary world about distinguished(?) Granta magazine running a prize-winning short story later discovered to have been generated by AI. This raised the question of what kinds of stories literary publications, such as our own, should be running. How do we react to the ongoing AI onslaught?

WE BELIEVE the key to survival of the art is to keep it grounded in reality, with emphasis on our humanity. Our experiences, emotions, sensitivities, friendships and frailties. As portrayed in our excellent new feature short story, “A Fading” by Aspen Audley. A tale about two childhood friends, and the progress of that friendship over the years. We hope you enjoy it!

That was when our M-C folders were born. Megan came up with the idea. She said she wanted to “preserve” my letter, “make it a testament to true friendship”—“for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, our great-great-grandchildren, and all future generations of best friends.” We found a couple of cardboard folders, mine bright orange, hers royal blue, and spent the afternoon decorating them. Megan invented a secret code, and in lieu of a blood oath, we cut sections of each other’s hair and taped them to the cover. I suggested we put our commitment to each other in writing. We got two sheets of notebook paper and, on each one, wrote the following:

This is to proclaim that forever and ever, Megan and Camila, also known as M-C, will be best friends and love each with all our hearts.