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In the Genki textbook, it is said that "In the casual conversational use of short forms, question sentences do not end with the question particle か, but with rising intonation alone."
Nonetheless, in the manga I'm reading, it's written 「そろそろいくか」 (meaning "I should get going" right?).
My thoughts here is that Genki didn't explain the whole context, as I've also heard this same expression in animes. Could someone clear it up?
The statement is an oversimplification. The ending か tends to be dropped most of the time, because it makes it sound crude ... not necessarily rude, maybe possibly. And since fiction has a larger tolerance for more expressive speech, you'll encounter it more often.
Also when talking to oneself politeness isn't really required, so that's more permissive.
Ending か also has a special usage in that it can mean a strong rejection (するか! ~ As if/no way I'm gonna do it!)
And embedded questions contain a か following a plain form, since politeness is expressed by the main verb ... stating just for completeness
