Taking a Bite Out of Love

It may be the season of hearts and flowers for most of us, but not for Oxnard Shores author Sherry Gottlieb--she is into vampires all year long.

Her first book, “Love Bite,” was made into the 1995 movie “Deadly Love” with Susan Dey, followed by “Worse Than Death” (Forge Books, $22.95). Both books feature the same Los Angeles homicide detective who falls in love with a vampire.

Gottlieb will be at the Ventura Barnes & Noble on Saturday to discuss and sign her erotic thriller.

Before she plunged into the dark world of her fictional character in 1994, she owned and operated A Change of Hobbit Bookstore in Santa Monica for 19 years. The bookstore specialized in speculative fiction, which she called an umbrella term covering science-fiction, fantasy and horror.

“All my books have their basis in the relationship between men and women,” Gottlieb said. “They are usually mysteries, police procedurals and detective novels. The vampire element is just one element.”

Admittedly fascinated by what makes a killer’s mind work, she is an aging hippie with a natural distrust of authority, she said.

During her bookstore years, she wrote “Hell, No, We Won’t Go! Resisting the Draft During the Vietnam War,” (Viking 1991). An oral history of draft-age men in the mid-’60s, it was a nominee for the PEN West USA Literary Award for nonfiction.

She has worn many hats since her college years as a playwriting major at Berkeley.

“Now I do book doctoring, legal scoping [editing court reporters’ transcriptions] and writing resumes,” she said. “I’m proud to say that everything I do has to do with words.”

As a book doctor, she has edited more than 100 novels, 98% by unpublished authors. When a client’s book is marketable, she refers the author to her agent or others she knows. So far, her clients have been published by Knopf, St. Martin’s Press, Dutton and Harper-Collins, she said.

When she decided to write fiction, she took a course in investigative techniques for writers through UCLA’s extension program. The intensive hands-on class, taught by the head of the sheriff’s crime lab, included a tour of the crime lab.

Try her Web site at https://www.wordservices.com for a real treat. Meanwhile, you can meet her at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

HAPPENINGS

* Sunday: 10:30 a.m. Rabbi Dov Greenberg will facilitate the discussion of “Toward a Meaningful Life” by Simon Jacobson at the Meaning of Life book club. Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. 446-2820.

* Sunday: 6 p.m. Poetry Night, with a group discussion, a featured poet at 7 p.m. and open mike at 8 p.m. Borders, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159.

* Monday: 12:30 p.m. “The Family Markovitz” by Allegra Goodman at the Monday Afternoon Book Club. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Monday: 7 p.m. The “Conversations with God” discussion group discusses the best seller by Neale David Walsch. Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

* Tuesday: noon. The Book & Song Reading Group will discuss “Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux, followed by selections from the musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 445-2820.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. The Short Story Discussion Group will focus on Willa Cather’s “A Death in the Desert.” Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. The Independent Thinkers Discussion Group. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura. 339-9170.

* Wednesday: 9:30 a.m. Story time featuring “Because a Little Bug Went Kachoo,” by Rosetta Stone and other creepy, crawly critter stories. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. The Partners-in-Crime group will discuss “Firestorm” by Nevada Barr. Thousand Oaks Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. The West Ventura Chapter of the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network will hear Camarillo chiropractor Adam Story discuss carpal tunnel syndrome and other stress disorders. Book Mall, 105 S. Oak St., Ventura. For more information, contact Patricia Fry at 646-3045 or e-mail at PLFryaol.com.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. Author Steve Hamilton will discuss and sign “Winter of the Wolf Moon” at Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. 374-0084.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. The Writing Group is open to all genres to read and talk about writing. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Thursday: 7 p.m. The Dear America Diary series offers a new program of historical fiction for ages 9 to 12. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Saturday: 10:30 a.m. Story time featuring “If You Give a Pig a Pancake” and “Dogs Don’t Wear Sneakers” by Laura Numeroff. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Saturday: 1 p.m. Kids can make and fly paper airplanes from the book “The Best Paper Airplanes You’ll Ever Fly.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Saturday: 3 p.m. Kenneth Baum will discuss and sign “Metabolize: The Personalized Program for Weight Loss.” Baum, a health and sports performance consultant, is also the author of “The Mental Edge: Maximize Your Sports Potential with the Mind-Body Connection.” Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Saturday: 7:30 p.m. Sherry Gottlieb will discuss and sign “Worse Than Death” at the Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

Information about book signings, writers groups and publishing events can be emailed to anns40aol.com or faxed to 647-5649).