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Carolyn Osborn graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Journalism degree in 1955, and an M.A. in 1959. She has won awards from P.E.N., the Texas Institute of Letters, and a Distinguished Prose Award from The Antioch Review (2003). Her stories have been included in The O. Henry Awards (Doubleday, 1990) and Lone Star Literature (Norton, 2003), among numerous other anthologies. Osborn is the author of two novels, Contrary People (Wings Press, 2012) and Uncertain Ground (Wings Press,2009), a memoir, Durations (Wings Press, 2017), and four collections of short stories, including A Horse of Another Color (University of Illinois Press, 1977), The Fields of Memory (Shearer Publishing, 1984), Warriors & Maidens (Texas Christian University Press, 1991) and Where We Are Now (Wings Press, 2014). The Book Club of Texas published an illustrated, specially bound edition of her story, The Grands (1990). In 2009, she received the Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Institute of Letters.

In these 12 stories, Texas writer, Osborn, chooses a title standing for the adversarial relationships between men and women. Many of the women are not, strictly speaking, maidens, nor are the men especially warlike. However, all are involved in one of fiction’s oldest mysteries: What really goes on between men and women? Some of the stories are set in Mexico where Osborn’s Americans often live borderline lives, at home in neither country. In the long title story, an American professor teaching in Mexico can’t accept Mexican culture, not even the Spanish language. Unable to commit himself to life there or to the woman he is involved with, he’s forced by a sudden frightening incident to realize his misery is made of his own wrong choices. In “Graffiti” a woman lays to rest an old romantic ghost from college days. The situation is reversed in “Overlapping,” when a woman leaves her husband of 20 years for her longtime Mexican lover. Osborn has a distinctive ability to highlight the significant detail. With wry humor and wit, her tales often reveal more than the characters are sometimes willing to acknowledge about themselves. These are beguiling, provocative stories about people caught in moments of revelation.

“Carolyn Osborn, an Award-Winning Author, Presents the Various Aspects of Love and Romance in her Book “Warriors and Maidens”

Carolyn Osborn is an award-winning poet who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a journalism degree in 1955 and a master’s degree in 1959. P.E.N., the Texas Institute of Letters, and The Antioch Review’s Distinguished Prose Award have all recognized her work (2003). Her pieces have been published in collections such as The O. Henry Awards (Doubleday, 1990) and Lone Star Literature (Norton, 2003).

“Warriors and Maidens” is Osborn’s novel about complicated and painful interactions between men and women. She compiled a collection of 12 stories in which the main characters are strong, independent women seeking meaningful and real interactions. She illustrates many of the frequent situations in which men and women are torn by love and passion.

Osborn has an uncanny capability to bring critical facts to light. With sardonic humor and distinctive wit, her stories reveal more about individuals than they are willing to confess about themselves. These are appealing, fascinating stories about outcasts who have had life-changing events. In this collection, Osborn also depicts love and passion in unusual ways, demonstrating its complexity and how it may impact others outside the relationship. Her characters draw inspiration from regular individuals who do daily things, bringing the reader closer to home. On the other hand, Osborn’s endeavor to examine how and why we abandon people who love us and pursue romantic relationships without reciprocity is the major draw of this anthology.”

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