About Ezra

Ezra Payne grew up in a religious family but left the religion in his early twenties. From a young age, he was fascinated by mythological tales of gods and monsters from ancient cultures, and channelled that passion into his own unwritten stories.

He completed the first draft of his debut novel, Blood Reign, in 2021, though the world and characters had been crafted over a decade.

Ezra is currently a full-time finance professional living in England. In his ever diminishing spare time, he enjoys playing story-driven video games.

FAQs

Is Hateful Tales a series?

I consider Hateful Tales to be a ‘modal saga’. I’ll elaborate.

Have you ever read a book that didn’t finish the core narrative by the end page? Maybe a warrior mum’s son was kidnapped but she has yet to learn his fate by the the end of a 150,000 word novel? (yes, that is targeted) I know why it's done; if an author’s story hasn’t concluded, the reader has to buy the next novel to find out what happens next. It's a marketing tactic. And I dislike this.

In my opinion, a novel should stand on its own as a full and complete story. I didn’t reach the end of Of Mice and Men in high school wondering what happens next. The book concludes the narrative. I believe all books should—in some manner—finish the arc that was started in the opening pages. Blood Reign contains a full and complete story within the pages of one book.

There is setup for a direct sequel, but it isn’t Blood Reign: Part 2; it’s a different story in the same universe that forms from preceding events. It may be incorrect, but I want readers to be given a complete experience within each book. You could read Blood Reign and decide not to follow the saga, but at least you’re not left wondering how that storyline ended. Others who enjoyed it can pick up the next one and read about new and returning characters and places within the same universe, adding to the world that’s already been built.

So… yeah. Modal saga.

Who is the target audience of your novels?

Blood Reign sits firmly in the Adult Fantasy genre and contains profanity, strong violence and mature themes. Characters in Blood Reign generally settle within the late-20s and early-30s bracket.

Is it steamy?

For a story that intrinsically weaves adult workers into its core narrative? Surprisingly, no. I appreciate that Erotica exists, but I won’t write it. ‘Fade to black’ only. Potential visual works, however…

Why did you start writing?

I felt that I had to. I had a (very different) story growing in my mind since high school and, after over a decade, it was dominating my thoughts so much, I needed to get it out to clear my head space.

It wasn't supposed to be a novel either. I saw it more as a video game, movie or animated series. But as a single person inexperienced with doing any of that, it needed to be something that I could feasibly complete on limited resources. A novel was the best way forward. The problem with that was that I wasn't much of a reader.

Intense study of biblical texts had snuffed out my enjoyment of reading in my early years. School hadn't helped either, with its exhaustive analysis of otherwise enjoyable stories and persistent queries such as 'what was the writer thinking in this piece of text?'.

So as completely novice writer, I had to start reading again to see what printed media was expected to look like. And use the services of alpha readers, beta readers and a copy editor so it didn't come across as amateurish. No one hated Blood Reign (or they're all blowing smoke up my arse), so I guess I'll keep going until I run out of things to write.

Can I ask you something?

Go for it! Fill in the contact form, and I'll get back to you when I can.