A book about a one-night stand that magically turned into a baby and several other events this evening.

Up at the University Book Store, W. Hodding Carter reads from Off the Deep End: The Probably Insane Idea that I Could Swim My Way to Youth, and Qualify for the Olympics, at Age Forty-Five. An alternate title could be: My Mid-life Crisis, and How I Got a Book Deal and Pruny Fingers Out of It.

Also up in the U District, Nancy Pearl is interviewing William Gibson onstage. This is the kickoff for this season’s Clarion West sci-fi reading series. The title for this interview is “Virtual Lust.” I wonder how Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust, feels about having the word ‘lust’ appendaged onto everything she touches. In any case, this should be good.

At Elliott Bay Book Company, Diana Kennedy, the author of The Art of Mexican Cooking will sign her cookbooks. There will be free food. It will probably be Mexican food. This is what advertising people refer to as “synergy,” and what poor journalists refer to as “manna from heaven.”

And at Town Hall, Robert Scheer reads from The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America. It sure does sound important, although, as I noted in the calendar listing for this reading, the book has nothing to do with pornography or actual hawks, so if you had your hopes inflated by that title, you should deflate them now.

Questions can be sated by the full readings calendar.