Pat Alderete rocks.

So last night I got to see Pat Alderete read here at UNL, and I have to tell you, she packed the house.  And then rocked it.  Folks were sitting on the floor.  When she got to the end of her second piece and was supposed to quit, the audience called for more. 

She read us the short story "Wanda," which was terrific (Pat said it's published online, but I haven't been able to find it--if you find it, let me know!), and then an essay, "The Plush Pony," which is in the cool new collection of GLBTQ memoirs and essays about living in Los Angeles, Love, West Hollywood, forthcoming from Alyson Books.

Pat's a terrific performer; her stories have a lot of dialogue, and she's got all the voices down.  She turns on a dime from hilarious to ominous, too.  If you ever get a chance to see her read, definitely go.  The evening wound up with the first part of another short story, which I think was called "Miss Johnson Comes to Dinner" (?), and it appeared in this great journal Vanderbilt University puts out, Afro-Hispanic Review.  Creative writers, check it out!  Pat left us hanging in the middle, so I've got to go track it down.