Meet Sylvester Barzey | Horror & Fantasy Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sylvester Barzey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sylvester, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk taking can play a big role in anyone’s life. Everyone dreams but only a few people are willing to take that leap for their dreams and risk it all. I think as a creator of color I have a lot to risk. Not only do I have the normal worries of writing like; will anyone read this, am I wasting my time, is my ROI worth it? But as a black man I also wonder if I’m representing my culture enough or if what I’m doing may cause people to see my race in a different light than I want. There is a lot of risk when it comes to chasing a dream but I feel not chasing it and just letting it die inside your heart is really the worst kind of risk, it’s wasting the life you were given.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My name is Sylvester Barzey and I’m the best horror and fantasy author in the world or I will be, it just takes time. I’m a huge horror fan who set out to create his own scary worlds. I love slasher movies, zombie movies or anything creepy and what I aim to do is take that love I have and combine it with representation. I wanna tell camp stories with little black kids surviving a ghost in the woods or final girls with long black dreads. I create horror for my son, while he isn’t at the age where he can enjoy it, when he is I want him to look at my work and think he can be a survivor because modern horror doesn’t show people of color as survivors, only comedic relief and victims but black history has shown us we are survivors, we’re still surviving. What I do is take my culture and put it on a creepy page, that’s pretty much it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, thanks to 2020, I’m not hanging out with any out of town friends or in town friends for that matter. If it were another time like 2019, I would take them to Fumi’s in Duluth for some amazing sushi and hibachi. Hangout at the mall of Georgia and buy some pop figures at think geek. I most definitely would have been going into Atlanta for Dragon Con but sadly those are dreams for another life.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to all the strong black women in my life. My mother, who showed me you can do anything you set your mind to, no matter the obstacles in your way. My sisters who thought it was funny to show a child who was scared of his own shadow “Candyman” and lock him in the bathroom after. Lastly and mostly I want to thank my wife, because she’s the one that’s around when things go bad, when I’m doubting myself, when the bills need to get paid and so does my website. It takes a lot to love a creative who has nothing to show for his creations, so thank you babe, you really are my Angel.

Website: www.sylvesterbarzey.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sylvesterbarzey
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/sbarzey
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sylvesterbarzey
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorsylvesterbarzey