Book Explores Problem of Random Violence : Authors discuss increase in weapons and tell how to prevent attacks and cope with the aftermath.

The outrageous killings in the Oxnard unemployment office are a gut-wrenching reminder that random violence in public places is escalating. Local author Eugene Wheeler, health planner and consultant to area and foreign governments, and psychologist S. Anthony Baron, nationally known for research on workplace violence, define the problem in their just-published book “Violence in Our Schools, Hospitals & Public Places.”

The book documents the history of public violence and the proliferation of deadly weapons, and provides crucial information on how to prevent random attacks and cope with the aftermath. The National School Safety Center assisted the authors with their research. Priced at $22.95, the book is published by Pathfinder Press of Ventura.

*

Poet, activist and social worker Jackson Wheeler will read from his new book “Swimming Past Iceland” at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Ventura Bookstore, 522 E. Main St. The collection is published by Mille Grazie Press, a new Santa Barbara publishing company founded by David Oliveira and Cynthia Anderson. The award-winning Wheeler, an Oxnard resident, translates French, German and Spanish poetry for various journals and presides over the Arcade Poetry Project.

*

The world-acclaimed science fiction/fantasy writer Ray Bradbury, who is dedicated to supporting libraries and bookstores, will sign the 40th anniversary edition of his classic “Fahrenheit 451” and the newly reissued children’s book “Switch on the Night” from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Phantom Bookshop, 451 E. Main St., Ventura. Call 641-3844 to reserve copies.

*

The Ventura County Writers’ Club sponsors a free seminar open to non-members at 1:15 p.m. on the second Monday of every month at New American Savings, 430 Arneill Road, Camarillo. The group focuses on basic writing techniques and evaluation of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Call 485-0339 or 482-1151 for details. For membership information call 642-6130.

*

It was a dark and stormy night. Or was it a bright and sunny day? They were laboring mightily on their manuscripts in a workshop at the annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference when their eyes met across a room filled with anxious scribblers. The rest is romantic history. Thousand Oaks’ Kathleen (Kitty) Dill, journalist and Ventura County government official, and Gordon Durich of Australia decided to collaborate. They designed the wedding invitation in the form of a romance novel titled “Passport to Love” and, amid hundreds of cheering readers and writers, were married Nov. 27 in Thousand Oaks.

Words & Images columnist Frances Halpern is an author and radio talk show host. Submit literary events information to her at least two weeks in advance to 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura 93003. Send faxes to 658-5576.