Warriors and Maidens

In the 12 stories in her third collection, Texas author Osborn ( A Horse of Another Color ) dissects the eccentricity and incongruity of love, and attempts to solve why A loves B who loves C. Some of the stories are set on the Texas-Mexico border; Osborn's people are borderline, too, at home in neither country. In the long title story an American professor teaching in Mexico can't accept Mexican culture nor even the Spanish language. Unable to commit himself to his life or to the woman with whom he is involved, he is forced by a sudden, frightening incident to realize that his displacement is in his soul. In ``Graffiti'' a woman lays to rest an old, romantic ghost from college days. The situation is reversed in ``Overlapping,'' in which a woman leaves her husband of 20 years, a successful Texas lawyer, for her longtime Mexican lover. Osborn has a distinctive ability to highlight the significant detail. With wry humor and quirky wit, her tales reveal more than the characters are willing to acknowledge about themselves. These are beguiling, provocative stories about noncomformists caught in a moment of revelation. (Apr.)