from Tor.com:
Tor.com is thrilled to present “First Flight,” an original story from Mary Robinette Kowal. Kowal is the 2008 recipient of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Cosmos, and Asimov’s. Her first novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, will be published by Tor in 2010.
Kowal is also a professional puppeteer and voice actor, and she lives in New York City with her husband Rob and nine manual typewriters.
The amazing oil-on-canvas illustration was done by Pascal Milelli, whose work has been seen in the picture books Rainbow Bay by Stephen Eaton Hume and The Art Room by Susan Vande Griek. This fall, Sleeping Bear Press will release his third book, Waiting for the Owl’s Call by Gloria Whelan.