Seattle mystery author JA Jance is very likely the biggest-name novelist in Seattle right now. Today, she comes to town with one of her Arizona-set books, about revenge and a dead friend and an evil doctor. Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.
Wildly popular science writer Michio Kaku is back on the book-writing game. Tonight he'll be reading from The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth. It's supposedly a more optimistic view of the future than the one you've had in your head for at least the last three years. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave, 652-4255, http://townhallseattle.org, 7:30 pm, $5.
Cartoonist Box Brown's latest book, Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America is the history of how a beloved narcotic was criminalized. Tonight, Brown will appear in conversation with fantastic local cartoonist Tom Van Deusen. Brown is doing another event in town to talk about the pot side of the book. This should be a fascinating conversation about the craft and art of comics. Third Place Books Seward Park, 5041 Wilson Ave S, 474-2200, http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.
Portland State University professor Grace L. Dillon will discuss "Native-centered worlds liberated by the imagination" through utopian visions in novels, film, and other media. Seattle Art Museum, 1300 1st Ave, 625-8900, http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/, 7 pm, free.
Matt Pentz is a local sportswriter. The Sound and the Glory: How the Seattle Sounders Showed Major League Soccer How to Win Over America is a book about our soccer team, which has been an example for other American soccer teams. Third Place Books Ravenna, 6504 20th Ave NE, 525-2347 http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.
See our Event of the Week column for more details. Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Ave., 386-4636, http://spl.org, 7 pm, free.
Anne Phyfe Palmer is the founding force behind Seattle's popular 8 Limbs Yoga Studio. Her new book is a journal intended to help people capture the unique elements of their own life stories. Third Place Books Seward Park, 5041 Wilson Ave S, 474-2200, http://thirdplacebooks.com, 7 pm, free.