Book ‘em

If you’re a writer in search of characters and conflict, you have to envy cops. All they have to do is show up for work.

Some Ventura County cops not only show up for work, they belong to the Police Writers Club, based in Williamsburg, Va. The group holds yearly conferences on alternating coasts--this year’s will be in Nevada.

Ventura County members Arthur J. Farrar and Paul Bishop also appear in “Cop Tales 2000,” an anthology of fiction and nonfiction police stories published by .38 Special Press this month for $18.95.

It’s available at amazon.com as well as in brick and mortar stores.

Farrar, known as A.J. to his friends, retired from the Ventura Police Department in 1993 after 30 years in law enforcement and is now an investor/partner with the Fillmore & Western Railway Co.

The majority of his adult life was spent writing for academic, law enforcement and professional purposes, he said.

Now he is ready to try his hand at fiction.

“It’s hard for me to write out of my head and make up stuff, though,” said Farrar, adding with a laugh, “People get in trouble for that, or so I’ve heard.”

He discovered Gloria Stern at the Virtual Classroom in North Hollywood through a member of the club. Now he is immersed in her online fiction course.

It forces him to write at least once a week during the six-week course while he goes about his normally busy routine.

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Farrar, who has been a member of the Police Writers Club for three years, said the club is attracting mainstream writers in search of answers on “One List,” its electronic bulletin board.

“Not everybody knows a medical coroner, homicide investigator or a traffic specialist,” he said. “People will post a question on ‘One List’ and may get as many as six answers.”

Farrar’s goal is to write a series of crime novels about a minority female police detective during the late 1960s until her retirement in the 1980s, he said.

Bishop, a Camarillo resident and fellow member of the club, is nine novels ahead of him.

Bishop’s latest novel is “Chalk Whispers,” which he will be signing around the county soon, along with “Cop Tales 2000,” where his novella appears.

The 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department now supervises the sex crimes and major assault crimes unit in West Los Angeles when he isn’t writing another of his LAPD crime novels.

The last one was “Tequila Mockingbird.” He also writes for episodic television series such as “Diagnosis Murder.”

Web sites to visit are www.policewriter.com and www.38specialpress.com. Farrar gets e-mail at AJ.FARRAR@worldnet.att.net.

HAPPENINGS

* Sunday: 11 a.m. Marianne Wesson will discuss and sign “A Suggestion of Death.” Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 374-0084.

* Monday: 11 a.m. Celebrate Presidents Day with “If I Were in Charge of the World” by Judith Viorst. Borders Books & Music, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 497-8159.

* Monday: 2:30 p.m. Pianist Daniel Pollack will discuss his music and sign one of his CDs. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Westlake Blvd., 446-2820.

* Monday: 7 p.m. Clarke & Gale’s Writers Group offers writers a chance to get together to share work. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., 339-9170.

* Tuesday: 4:30 p.m. Life & Times Biography Program will feature Rosa Parks. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. Story time with Caldecott award-winning “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by James Marshall. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Tuesday: 7 p.m. Pepperdine professor Michael Collings conducts an ongoing poetry workshop. Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 9:30 a.m. Story time with Alan Baker’s “White Rabbits Color Book” and “Little Elmo’s Book of Colors.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. The Sci-Fi Fantasy Discussion Group will focus on “Moving Mars” by Greg Bear. Borders, 497-8159.

* Wednesday: 7 p.m. American Girls Club meeting will focus on Addy. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Thursday: 7 p.m. Stanley Tilles will discuss and sign “By The Neck Until Dead.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Friday: 3 p.m. Ross Venokur will read, discuss and sign his new children’s book, “The Cookie Company.” Borders, 497-8159.

* Friday: 7 p.m. Story time with “Rumplestiltskin” by Paul Zelinsky. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Friday: 7:30 p.m Chris Prentiss will discuss and sign “The Little Book of Secrets: 81 Secrets for Living a Happy, Prosperous and Successful Life.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

* Saturday: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oak Street Festival. Storytelling, crafts, bargain book tables, the Bubble Wizard and music featuring Mary Wilson on the first and third Saturdays and Maximum Bob on the second and fourth Saturdays. Book Mall, 105 S. Oak St., Ventura, 641-2665.

* Saturday: 10:30 a.m. Story time with “The Trouble with Trolls” and “The Hat and The Mitten” by Jan Brett. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 497-8159.

* Saturday: noon. Matt Witten will discuss and sign “Grand Delusion.” Mysteries to Die For, 374-0084.

* Saturday: 7 p.m. Delta’s Corner, honoring the best in African American literature, will focus on “Passing By” by Patricia Jones and “Blanche Among the Talented Tenth” by Barbara Neely. Borders, 497-8159.

* Saturday: 8 p.m. Chris Prentiss will discuss and sign “The Little Book of Secrets: 81 Secrets for Living a Happy, Prosperous and Successful Life.” Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

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