Some Q&A about the series:

Q: Where did you get the idea for these books?

A: From the rosary. Seriously. Someone phoned me and asked me for help in coming up with a way to evangelize teens through fiction and I told her I'd pray about it and call her back after we'd prayed our family Rosary.

Now, I'm not big on telling stories that have an obvious moral or an obvious evangelical purpose. I think it's a rather crude way to use the fantastic medium of fiction.

So I decided to propose to the person who asked me that instead of trying to come up with some kind of message-disguised-as-a-story, why not just come up with a good story, and let the teens figure out any inherent message for themselves?

And I wanted it to be a REALLY GOOD story, the kind that I searched for like a starving man in a desert during my own teen years. Plus I wanted it to be a page-turner, with characters you wish you could have as friends.

I also didn't want it to have an ending. I've always been a fan of series, and as some know, I have difficulty in bringing my own stories to an end.

My own books are written for general teen audiences, and the more I write, the more I try to reach the average teen.

But I was getting a little restive with that. This series, I decided, was going to be my chance to do something for CATHOLIC teens in particular. I wanted the series to deal with struggles that Catholic teens face that Protestant teens or regular secular teens don't normally have to deal with. There's struggles particular to being a practicing Catholic, and I wanted the series to deal with these.

So these were the intentions I brought to the Rosary, and sometime in the midst of it, the idea came: center the stories around a new Catholic high school started by parents that's just beginning its first year. Throw homeschoolers, Catholic school kids, and public school kids together and let them deal with each other in this new environment. And place them in close proximity to a public school, so they're not totally separated from the kids in wider society.

That was the germ of the story idea, but it's grown a lot bigger from there. I can assure you that these are not going to be "morality tales" but instead good stories that will be hard to put down about real Catholic kids whoare just trying to live out the challenges of their faith -- with other Catholics and with non-Catholics as well.

One other intention I brought with me to Our Blessed Mother: I did not want to write this series. I wanted to be the editor, but I wanted to find other young Catholic writers to do the writing. And I have. I'm excited by how the books are turning out. And I think you will be too.

So far as personal source material is concerned, I graduated from a private Catholic high school that had been set up by the parents. So have some others on the John Paul 2 High Team. So we all have background experiences we could draw from.

Pray for the writing! And stay tuned....

Q: Can you tell me who the shooter is?  Please????

A: I don't think you want us to tell you that!  Really!  Stay tuned.... and pray for us!

Regina Doman, a.k.a. "Series Queen"