Let ‘Country Roads’ Be Your County Guide : Arline Inge’s new travel book focuses on places to visit from Simi Valley to Carpinteria.

Food and travel writer Arline Inge writes, “I’ve spent a lifetime in Southern California and never thought about country roads . . . until I decided to write about them.”

In her recently published book “Country Roads of Southern California,” Inge tells us where and how to discover the small delights of Ventura County.

The chapter, “Presidential Pomp to Small-Town USA” features wonderful places to visit in Simi Valley, Moorpark, Fillmore and Lake Piru. The “Road to Shangri-La” chapter focuses on Santa Paula, Ojai and Carpinteria. If you can’t wander too far from home this summer, pick up a copy of this gentle travel guide and follow the country roads to local destinations. If not in bookstores, call Country Road Press at 800-729-9179.

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Award-winning western historical author Gary McCarthy will celebrate publication of his 28th book at a champagne reception at 6 p.m. Friday in the Ojai Table of Contents, 208 E. Ojai Ave. His new book “Yosemite,” the first in a series about American national parks, covers a 100-year span beginning with Native Americans who lived in the area and ending when Yosemite became a national park.

Script consultant/producer Paul Gray will teach an intensive one-day seminar for writers who want to adapt an idea, story or novel into a screenplay. The class is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the University Center, UCSB. Call 549-7751 for details.

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Find out once and for all whether you want to/need to surf the Internet. Mark Gibbs, author of “The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Networking” and “Navigating the Internet” will describe the process at 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., Ventura.

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Mysteries to Die For will host two authors this week at 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Gar Anthony Haywood will sign “Bad News Travels Fast” at 1 p.m. Saturday. Max Allan Collins, author of “Blood and Thunder,” will appear at 6 p.m. Monday.

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Diane Neveu, owner of the Book Mall in Ventura, will describe how to determine the monetary value of a book at 2 p.m. Saturday at a meeting of Friends of the Oxnard Library, 251 South A St. Members of the public are invited to attend and to bring a book for evaluation. Call 485-8262.