Tonight, we have Steve Scher talking with a reporter who has been stationed in Afghanistan for years; an open mic; a lecture about "Creating a Positive Organizational Culture;" an author who goes by the pseudonym Dr. Cutherbert Soup; a book titled Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything, about how you can lose weight and find God; and a book titled Stink: Solar System Superhero.

And then we have the events we'll talk about tonight.

John Olson reads at Pilot Books as part of Small Press Fest tonight. Olson is a Stranger Genius of Literature and a very fine poet.

Zachary Mason reads at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight. The Lost Books of the Odyssey is a very intelligent, challenging debut novel that pulls the Odyssey apart to see what makes it tick. I did a Lunch Date about this one a week or so ago, and I enjoyed it. If you're not into experimental fiction, this isn't for you; it's not like the 300-ization of the Odyssey or anything. It's more an experiment in the way we understand stories, and what we do with them once they're put out into the world.

It's time for Cheap Beer and Prose tonight at the Hugo House, with your special guest-host, (and our newest Stranger news reporter) Cienna Madrid. Jonathan Evison, Stranger Genius Stacey Levine, Bret Fetzer, and Janna Cawrse Esarey will all read new work, with beer selling for $1 a can. There have been two of these so far, (here's my take on the first one, and here's Kyle Regan's take on the second one) and they've both been hilarious, wildly entertaining evenings. This is the reading of the night, and I'd suggest you do what I'm doing this evening: Hitting up Slog Happy at the Five Point for some free books and then rushing up the hill to continue the drinkening at the Hugo House.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you're planning on staying in and you're looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.