A Storied Life: To Leave a Warrior Behind by Jon Tattrie
The Life and Stories of Charles R. Saunders, the Man Who Rewrote Fantasy
When I picked up Jon Tattrie’s To Leave a Warrior Behind: The Life and Stories of Charles R. Saunders, the Man Who Rewrote Fantasy, I wondered why a white Canadian journalist and author was writing a biography of an African American fantasy author. Tattrie was concerned about the optics of this himself and decided to hang a lampshade on it.
He and Saunders were colleagues at the Halifax Daily News and though the paper had folded a decade earlier, Tattrie was in irregular contact with Saunders, a man he respected not only as a journalist, but as the author of Imaro and several nonfiction books focused on local black history.
In July 2020, however, at the height of pandemic lockdowns, Tattrie, prompted by an email, couldn’t reach his old colleague for a welfare check. Saunders was a notorious recluse and lived alone. None of Tattrie’s initial enquiries met with either concern or results. Saunders often dropped out of contact for weeks or months at a time.
Only later would he learn that Saunders was found dead in his apartment in May of 2020 at the age of 73.
“In all his conversations with the people who knew Saunders, Tattrie could find no one who knew about his childhood or family. Tattrie was the only person who knew where Saunders’ final resting place was.”
In his attempts to write an obituary for the CBC, Tattrie realized that he knew less than he thought about Saunders’ life. The gaps in his knowledge disturbed him. Worse, had there been anyone to claim Saunders’ remains? What was the point of writing an obituary when there would be no funeral?
Tattrie put his investigative journalist hat on.
Of the 42 people who’d died in May 2020, only one body had remained unclaimed, that of Charles R. Sauders. He’d been buried in an unmarked grave.
In all his conversations with the people who knew Saunders, Tattrie could find no one who knew about his childhood or family. Tattrie was the only person who knew where Saunders’ final resting place was.
It didn’t seem right, but Tattrie felt the responsibility settle on his shoulders. He’d do his best to do right by Saunders.
Thus began Tattrie’s odyssey into the life of Charles R. Saunders.
He cobbled together evidence from Saunders’ many friends and their correspondences (Saunders was a dedicated letter writer) because his apartment had been cleaned out and his possessions disposed of. Tattrie eventually tracked down Saunders’ remaining family and arranged a proper memorial for his former colleague.
He compiled his research into To Leave a Warrior Behind and asked Sheree Renée Thomas, who had published Saunders’ stories in her Dark Matter anthologies, to write the forward.
Saunders was the father of the “Sword and Soul” fantasy genre, drawing on African history and legend to centre Black heroes among the stories of Conan and Tarzan. In fact, he purposely wrote Imaro as a response to the one-note African villains in the Tarzan novels.
Moving to Canada to avoid the draft, Saunders found a home and community in Nova Scotia. Though dealt blow after blow by the publishing industry, he persisted and found champions for his work, producing five Imaro novels, two Dossouye novels, Damaballa, and Abegoni, dozens of short stories and essays, four nonfiction books, and three screenplays, not to mention his years as a journalist and editor at the Halifax Daily News.
Saunders’ was literally a storied life. He deserves more praise and his work more recognition. Anyone with an interest in fantasy should read this biography and use that as a jumping-off point into Saunders’ works.
About the Author
JON TATTRIE is the author of eight books, including the best-seller Peace by Chocolate, as well as The Hermit of Africville, Redemption Songs: How Bob Marley’s Nova Scotia Song Lights the Way Past Racism, and Daniel Paul: Mi’kmaw Elder. After working as a journalist for more than twenty years, he now operates Write Now! with Jon Tattrie to help other people write their books. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his wife Giselle, son Xavier, and daughter Roslyn.
About the Reviewer
Melanie Marttila (she/her) is an #ActuallyAutistic SFF author-in-progress, writing poetry and tales of hope in the face of adversity. Her poetry has appeared in The /tƐmz/ Review, Polar Starlight, Sulphur, and her debut poetry collection, The Art of Floating, was published in 2024 by Latitude 46. Her short fiction has appeared in SuperCanucks, Through the Portal, and Pulp Literature. She is a settler writing in Sudbury, or ‘N’Swakamok, on Robinson-Huron Treaty territory, home of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and the Wahnapitae First Nation, in the house where three generations of her family have lived, on the street that bears her surname, with her spouse and their dog.
Book Details
Publisher : McClelland & Stewart
Publication date : Jan. 20 2026
Language : English
Print length : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 0771004214
ISBN-13 : 978-0771004216
One of my biggest literary regrets is that I discovered Saunders' Imaro, and found out that he was also in Nova Scotia and was going to send him a line, but never did, and then it was too late. Looking forward to reading Tattrie's bio.