1. Luke Burbank, who is a dreamy radio host, will chat with Simon Reynolds, the author of Retromania, about reboots, reimaginings, and why the past doesn't seem to be disappearing anymore. This discussion will take place tonight in the Rendezvous, which is a perfect setting for a discussion about nostalgia.

2. Tonight at the Seattle Public Library, Ingrid Betancourt will read. Betancourt, who was a candidate for the Colombian presidency and spent six years as a hostage, will read from her memoir, Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle. Kind of makes that retro discussion seem silly in comparison, doesn't it?

3. As previously Suggested, Cherie Priest debuts her new Clockwork Century novel, Ganymede, tonight at University Book Store. It's about New Orleans and a submarine heist. I'll be reviewing Ganymede soon, but I have a bit of unfinished business to get to, first: Over the summer, Priest published Hellbent, the second outing in her other series, the Cheshire Red Reports. (It's an urban fantasy series about an OCD vampire thief.) I was not crazy about Bloodshot, the first book in the series. Raylene, the main character, narrated the story in a chatty, expository fashion—it's fairly close to Priest's own blogging voice—and things moved along quickly enough, but it felt like a bunch of cliches smashed together. Last week, I read Hellbent, and it was fun enough to make me totally reconsider Bloodshot.

Her Cheshire Red books aren't as serious, or as densely drawn, as the Clockwork Century books, because Priest is having some light, pulpy fun with them. A supporting character is a former Marine who now works as a drag queen. Hellbent is all about a box full of penis bones that were scavenged from mythical beasts like unicorns and werewolves. It's like a bawdy joke disguised as a paranormal adventure book. And the supporting cast is, happily, growing at a rapid pace; Raylene is just as likely to invite someone to live with her as she is to beat the crap out of them. They're books that feel like they were written on a lark, and they take a couple hours to whip through. Sometimes, that's just what you need.

4. There's more going on tonight, and it's all right here.