The story "Biker Saints" is a new mystery for readers ages 8 - 12. It will be posted in serial format at BellaOnline, prior to its e-book and print format.

Alabama has some of the fastest growing communities in the United States. The northern region of Alabama has one of the highest numbers of Ph.D.s per capita in the US. Yet, to most Americans, Alabama is seen as a vast wasteland filled with rusted pickup trucks. When they think of Alabama, they do not think of Marshall Space Flight Center, but of cotton.

This is the dilemma that faces Sebastian Bellopiedi. He has been uprooted from his familiar home in Philadelphia to rural Alabama. He shares this dilemma with thousands of other girls and boys. Each year thousands of youth move with their families to unfamiliar territory.

Sebastian's situation is intensified by the fact that he is a religious minority in his new community. He is a Catholic. His parents are opening a mission church to serve the handful of Catholic families in the county. In a state where Catholics are only 3% of the population, it is not easy to be different in one's beliefs. Just as northerners bring their own preconceptions about the south, the Bellopiedis' neighbors make their own prejudgments.

When the new church is vandalized Sebastian must decide what is important in his life. Will he stand up for what he believes or will he hide his beliefs to fit in? As members of the community take sides, Sebastian finds strength to live up to his namesake.

Sebastian and his new friend Andy (the son of a Methodist minister) have suspicions as to who caused the damage to the church. Wary of pointing fingers, they decide to investigate on their own.

Join us as we soon begin the journey with the Biker Saints.