{{Short description|American author}} {{distinguish|Karen Osborn}} {{Infobox writer |name = Karen Osborne |image = |caption = |pseudonym = |birth_date = |birth_place = Niskayuna, New York |death_date = |death_place = |occupation = Author |genre = speculative fiction |movement = |magnum_opus = |debut_works = |influences = |influenced = |website = {{URL|http://www.karenosborne.com/}} }} '''Karen Osborne''' is an American author of fantasy and science fiction, active in the field since 2008, with most of her work appearing since 2016.<ref name="ISFDB">{{isfdb name|id=143949|name=Karen Osborne}}</ref>
==Biography== Karen Osborne was born in Niskayuna, New York. She graduated from Niskayuna High School and attended Nazareth College near Rochester, New York, studying English, communication and information design. Her first job was as a packer of Tupperware orders; she has been an English teacher, wedding videographer, cashier, bookseller, and press release writer. She has worked for community weekly newspapers in New York, Florida, and Maryland as a reporter, photographer, editor, and website manager, winning awards for hews and opinion writing.<ref name="Sorg">Sorg, Arley. "[https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/osborne_interview/ Thrilling to the Harmony: A Conversation with Karen Osborne]" in ''Clarkesworld'', Feb. 2021.</ref>
Osborne is currently a full-time writer living in Baltimore, Maryland with, as she writes, "two violins, an autoharp, five cameras, two cats, and a family."<ref name="webbio">Osborne, Karen. "[http://www.karenosborne.com/about-2/ About]."</ref><ref name="Sorg"/>
Before the pandemic she played fiddle in the Homespun Ceilidh Band, based in the DC/Maryland area and electric violin for the fusion group Circle of Confusion, as well as emceeing the Baltimore-based Charm City Spec reading series and running 5k races.<ref name="webbio"/><ref name="Sorg"/>
==Literary career== Osborne's earliest attempt to sell fiction was a spec script for ''Star Trek: Voyager'', written as a teen with a friend. She framed the rejection letter.<ref name="Sorg"/> She attended the 2016 Viable Paradise workshop and the 2017 Clarion Writers' Workshop at UCSD.<ref name="Sorg"/> Her work has appeared in various periodicals, webzines and podcasts, including ''Aoife's Kiss'', ''Beneath Ceaseless Skies'', ''Clarkesworld'', ''Electric Spec'', ''Escape Pod'', ''Fireside Quarterly'', ''Future Science Fiction Digest'', and ''Uncanny Magazine'', and the anthologies ''The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 5'', ''Event Horizon 2018'', ''The Long List Anthology: Volume 6'', ''Nebula Awards Showcase 55'', and ''[https://robotdinosaurfiction.com/ Robot Dinosaur Fiction!]''.<ref name="ISFDB"/><ref name="webbio"/>
==Recognition== Osborne was a nominee but not a finalist for the 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.<ref name="ISFDB"/> Her story "The Dead, in Their Uncontrollable Power" was nominated for the 2020 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, placed 17th in the 2020 Locus Poll Award for Best Short Story,<ref name="ISFDB"/> was a finalist for the 2020 Sturgeon Award for Best Short Science Fiction,<ref>{{cite web |title=Sturgeon Award Winner |url=https://locusmag.com/2020/10/sturgeon-award-winner/ |website=Locus Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=October 20, 2020}}</ref> and was a nominee but not a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.<ref name="ISFDB"/> Her novel ''Architects of Memory'' was nominated for the 2020 Bisexual Book Award for speculative fiction,<ref>{{cite web |title=2020 Bisexual Book Awards Winners |url=https://locusmag.com/2021/06/2020-bisexual-book-awards-winners/ |website=Locus Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=June 14, 2021}}</ref> one of 10 finalists for the 2021 Locus Poll Award for Best First Novel,<ref>{{cite web |title=2021 Locus Awards Top Ten Finalists |url=https://locusmag.com/2021/05/2021-locus-awards-top-ten-finalists/ |website=Locus Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=May 1, 2021}}</ref> and was nominated for the 2021 Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel.<ref name="ISFDB"/>
==Bibliography== ===Memory War series=== *''Architects of Memory'' (978-1-250-21547-5, Tor, Sep. 2020)<ref>{{cite web |title=Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250215475 |work=Publishers Weekly |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=April 14, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bourke |first1=Liz |title=Liz Bourke Reviews Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne |work=Locus Online |url=https://locusmag.com/2020/12/liz-bourke-reviews-architects-of-memory-by-karen-osborne/ |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=December 17, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Architects of Memory |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/Architects-of-Memory/pid=9734784 |url-access=subscription |website=Booklist Online |access-date=March 23, 2025}}</ref> *''Engines of Oblivion'' (978-1-250-21550-5, Tor, Feb. 2021)<ref>{{cite web |title=Engines of Oblivion by Karen Osborne |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250215505 |access-date=March 23, 2025 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=December 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Chadwick |first=Kristi |title=Engines of Oblivion |url=https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/engines-of-oblivion |website=Library Journal |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=January 1, 2021}}</ref>
===Short fiction=== {{div col}} *"Retirement" (from ''Aoife's Kiss'' #7, Dec. 2008) *"Gazer" (from ''Electric Spec'' v. 11, iss. 4, November 30, 2016) *"An Equal Share of the Bone" (from ''Escape Pod'' #603, November 23, 2017) *"Even to the Teeth" (from ''Robot Dinosaur Fiction!'', July 6, 2018) *"Dollhouse" (from ''Escape Pod'' #641, August 16, 2018) *"The Bodice, the Hem, the Woman, Death" (from ''Beneath Ceaseless Skies'' #263, October 25, 2018)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Truesdale |first1=Dave |title=Beneath Ceaseless Skies #263, October 25, 2018 |url=https://tangentonline.com/e-marketbi-weekly/beneath-ceaseless-skies/beneath-ceaseless-skies-263-october-25-2018/ |website=Tangent Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=November 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Burnham |first1=Karen |title=Karen Burnham Reviews Short Fiction: Clarkesworld, BCS, Strange Horizons, Giganotosaurus, and Tor.com |url=https://locusmag.com/2019/01/karen-burnham-reviews-short-fiction-clarkesworld-bcs-strange-horizons-giganotosaurus-and-tor-com/ |website=Locus Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=January 28, 2019}}</ref> *"The Blanched Bones, the Tyrant Wind" (from ''Fireside Quarterly'', Jan. 2019) *"The Dead, in Their Uncontrollable Power" (from ''Uncanny Magazine'' iss. 27, Mar./Apr. 2019) *"The Two-Bullet War" (from ''Beneath Ceaseless Skies'' #278, May 23, 2019)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Truesdale |first1=Dave |title=Beneath Ceaseless Skies #278, May 23, 2019 |url=https://tangentonline.com/e-marketbi-weekly/beneath-ceaseless-skies/beneath-ceaseless-skies-278-may-23-2019/ |website=Tangent Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=June 1, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Burnham |first1=Karen |title=Karen Burnham Reviews Short Fiction: Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and BCS |url=https://locusmag.com/2019/09/karen-burnham-reviews-short-fiction-clarkesworld-lightspeed-and-bcs/ |website=Locus Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=September 25, 2019}}</ref> *"Cratered" (from ''Future Science Fiction Digest'' iss. 3, Jun. 2019)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Silverwolf |first1=Victoria |title=Future Science Fiction Digest #3, June 2019 |url=https://tangentonline.com/e-market-quarterly/future-science-fiction-digest-e-market-quarterly/future-science-fiction-digest-3-june-2019/ |website=Tangent Online |access-date=March 23, 2025 |date=June 16, 2019}}</ref> *"Promises We Made Under a Brick-Dark Sky" (from ''Clarkesworld'' iss. 178, Jul. 2021)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Truesdale |first1=Dave |title=Clarkesworld #178, July 2021 |url=https://tangentonline.com/e-market-monthly/clarkesworld-178-july-2021/ |access-date=March 23, 2025 |work=Tangent Online |date=July 23, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Burnham |first1=Karen |title=Karen Burnham Reviews Short Fiction: Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, and Future Science Fiction Digest |url=https://locusmag.com/2021/10/karen-burnham-reviews-short-fiction-clarkesworld-tor-com-beneath-ceaseless-skies-lightspeed-and-future-science-fiction-digest/ |access-date=March 23, 2025 |work=Locus Online |date=October 26, 2021}}</ref> *"Osteogenesis" (from ''Kaleidotrope'' iss. 67, Spring 2025) {{div col end}}
===Nonfiction=== *"[https://whatever.scalzi.com/2020/09/21/the-big-idea-karen-osborne/ The Big Idea: Karen Osborne]" (on John Scalzi's ''Whatever'', September 21, 2020) *"[https://www.tor.com/2020/09/21/five-books-where-assuming-aliens-are-just-like-you-might-get-you-killed/ Five Books Where Assuming Aliens Are Just Like You Might Get You Killed]" (on ''Tor.Com'', September 21, 2020)
===Interviews=== *Wise, A. C. "[http://www.acwise.net/?p=3271 An Interview with Karen Osborne]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", September 8, 2020. *"[https://tbplofftheshelf.com/2021/01/06/interview-with-karen-osborne/ Interview with Karen Osborne]" (at Thunder Bay Public Library's ''Off The Shelf'', January 6, 2021) *Sorg, Arley. "[https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/osborne_interview/ Thrilling to the Harmony: A Conversation with Karen Osborne]" in ''Clarkesworld'', Feb. 2021.
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{official website|http://www.karenosborne.com/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Karen}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women writers Category:American speculative fiction writers Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Nazareth University alumni