Ezell has always been curious. As a child, he roamed the woods and fields of the Alabama Black Belt of Sumter and Choctaw Counties in search of game, fish, Indian artifacts, fossils, rocks, and adventure. He swam in Tuckabum Creek, climbed the Scott Mountain Fire Tower, gazed at stars and planets through a homemade telescope, shot rats in his uncle’s barn, flew homemade kites, and picked blackberries. He had free range of almost everyone’s property back then as long as he didn’t set a forest fire or let their cows out.

        Ezell’s favorite place was The Farm, his aunt and uncle’s property above Livingston. The place sprawled across several square miles of prairie, rolling hills, dense forest, ponds, and fossil-laden outcrops of chalk laid down on the sea floor during the last days of the dinosaurs. On every visit he stopped at a spot atop a hill where stood a single Osage orange. Partially encircled by roots, gaped a hole, a seemingly bottomless hole. His mind always raced when he peered into the darkness. Was it the entrance to the nether regions or the lair of some unspeakable creature? The answer was mundane but intriguing. Nearly two centuries earlier, enslaved workers dug deep into the soft chalk to create a cistern to hold rainwater. After a few feet, the hole opened into a dome-shaped void that could hold tens of thousands of gallons. Ezell’s uncle hired a slender young man to slip down the hole and descend on a rope into the darkness where he found a corroded Winchester 1873 rifle. Thereby would hang a tale!

        Two of his favorite high school English teachers brought literature to life and instilled in him a love of reading. At the University of Alabama, he studied art, anthropology, and history. In graduate school he learned his vocation—civil and environmental engineering.

        After retiring, his wife, novelist Carolyn W. Ezell aka Carolyn Breckinridge, inspired him to write. The first thing that came to mind was the hole in the ground at The Farm. From this enigma, arose a yarn that evolved into his first novel The Cistern. The adventures of the characters continued in his second novel Debris Cloud.

        While writing these novels, Ezell wrote 60 local-history columns for Druid City Living. Additionally, he researched and wrote text for over 30 historic markers for the City of Tuscaloosa. They stand along the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk and in Government Plaza adjacent to City Hall.

        Currently Ezell is writing the third novel in the Cistern Series, tentatively titled The Gondolier’s Gold, and working on a novella with accompanying short stories.