LITERARY: Tonight kicks off Fantomas-By-The-Bay, a centennial celebration of pulp fiction writers Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain's ultimate anti-hero, who was as enigmatic as he was treacherous. Tonight's reception, Fantomas Strikes the Bay!, will feature an absinthe tasting followed by an evening of readings, diatribes, manifestos, and performances by a big line-up of local luminaries. City Lights recommends getting a costume at nearby Al's Attire for the occasion.

7 p.m. // City Lights Booksellers & Publishers (261 Columbus Avenue) // free

FOOD: Watch Traci Des Jardins compete on Top Chef Masters which premieres tonight on Bravo, at a viewing party at Des Jardins' Public house. Traci will be competing for local charity La Cocina, and proceeds from Public House's La Cocina-prepared appetizer plate and three featured tequila drinks will benefit La Cocina. Regular menu items will also be available.

8 p.m. // Public House (24 Willie Mays Plaza) // free

FILM: The 7th Annual San Francisco International Women's Film Festival opens tonight with Raymonde Provencher's riveting and jaw-dropping documentary, Grace, Milly, Lucy...Child Soldiers, which exposes the gripping first-hand accounts of just a few of the thousands of young girls brutally abducted from Ugandan villages and trained to fight and kill for the Lord's Resistance Army, a notorious rebel group, and forced into a life of warfare and slavery.

8 p.m. // Roxie Theater (3117 16th Street) // $15