"The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" is a science fiction/magical realism novella by the American writer Elizabeth Hand. It was first published in the Neil Gaiman/Al Sarrantonio-edited anthology Stories: All-New Tales,[1] in 2010, and subsequently republished in Hand's 2012 anthology Errantry: Strange Stories from Small Beer Press.[2]
Anaviation historian is terminally ill. As a last gift, her friends decide to falsify evidence that will support her personal theory regarding the invention of flight.
"Maiden Flight" won the 2011 World Fantasy Award—Novella,[3] and was nominated for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Novella[4] and the 2011 Theodore Sturgeon Award[5]
Theodora Goss calls it "simple on one level and intensely complicated on another. And beautiful, and a joy to read,"[6] while the Portland Press Herald described it as "bittersweet" and "magical",[7] and Roz Kaveney judged it "possibly the best" story in the anthology.[8]
Hand has stated that the story "balance[s] on a knife-edge between fantasy and science fiction," with "elements of both", and declined to further explain what happens in it, saying "You tell me." [9]
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