The first book in my bilingual series for kids is out. Now here’s something for the grownups. My novel Peace, Love, and You Know What — an experiment in ePublishing — will soon be released.

I’m one more close read away from handing the manuscript over to Michelle Gutierrez, who is designing the cover and the book’s contents. We met this week to go over concepts. Michelle read the novel and I trust her designer’s eye to translate what I wrote into a reader-catching cover.

We’re doing Kindle first, then paperback. I might even do an audio version if people can stand my Massachusetts’ accent.

So what’s Peace, Love, and You Know What about? Hippies, to be specific, college hippies who are planning a three-day graduation bash. Yes, it’s a comedy.

There’s Tim, who is actually faking his graduation, and his roommates Mack, Manny and the poetry-spouting Joey. Then, there’s Lenora, their queen who is graduating and splitting for Europe. Tim and Lenora have been tight friends for four years and he figures this might be his last chance with her.

The three-day bash is a big hit for every hippie freak and dirty professor at Westbridge State College. You name it, they do it … but I’ll tell you more when I get closer to the launch.

I want to backtrack a bit and give credit to my friend Craig Dirgo, an author of thriller fiction who encouraged me to try ePublishing. It’s a bit of a story on how we met but one afternoon I listened to his take on the topic with an open mind. While Craig spoke, I thought about how I now get music, news, television, movies etc. via the Internet. Why not books?

I’ve gone the traditional route of agent — I actually had two — and publishing house with no success in getting the novels I’ve been writing into the hands of readers. It is time for me to try something different.

Of the books I’ve written Peace, Love, and You Know What is a solid choice for this try. The early ’70s was an exciting period of time. Perhaps the book will be a bit nostalgic for those who lived through it and a curiousity for those who didn’t. There’s enough sex in it that I will be hesitant to show the book to my mother, but I bet she will be proud anyway when I tell her it’s published.

ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE: The VW van belongs to my friends Mary and Hector. It may make an appearance on the cover of this novel.