𝑾𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒘! 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 $𝟓𝟎 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝑭𝑵𝑺’𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑹. 𝑺𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒛𝒆. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓, 𝒘𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝟏𝟐 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.
Charles R. Saunders has entered the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. The story of how I came to have his plaque reminded me of a story connected to the birth of a unique novel for Charles.
Damballa is a joyful book and it became the first new fiction world from Charles in 26 years when it was published in 2011. He mixes his love of African history into Damballa’s origin story and adds his passion for boxing by centring the book around an upcoming heavyweight tilt. It’s the only novel Charles ever set in our world. “Music stirred the sultry night air of Sugar Row. The syncopated sounds of smooth jazz wove magic in the June heat and brought quick smiles to the lips of the men and women of all shades of darkness who walked past the mansion from which the music emanated,” it begins.
It’s Harlem in the 1930s and a Black American man is heavyweight champion of the boxing world. The Nazis hate him and send their own supreme white champion, powered by a mysterious potion, to destroy the champ in the ring. Damballa must thwart the Nazi plot to give the champ a fighting chance. In true Charles fashion, even the drugged-up Nazi pugilist is portrayed with all his rich humanity intact. Damballa uses a mix of modern science and ancient African magic to thwart the Nazi supremacy.
The novel came at the prompting of Charles’s old friend, Ron Fortier. The men had connected through letters over Dark Fantasy magazine in the 1970s and had corresponded for decades. In 2006, Ron and his friend Rob Davis accomplished a dream by launching Airship 27 Productions with the plan to publish new pulp fiction based on the 1930s classic pulp heroes they both loved. Charles admired the idea, and offered his support. Ron needed a solid proofreader and Charles volunteered. He devoured the stories starring Secret Agent X, the Black Bat, Domino Lady, Raven, Stepson of Mystery, and the Purple Scar. Charles got a hoot out of it, but he told Ron he’d found an old problem in the classic characters: “We can’t help but trip across the racism of the 1930s.”
Ron agreed, but contended he couldn’t revive classic Black pulp heroes, because there were none. Perhaps Charles could change that? No, Charles said. Repeatedly. For five years. But then … “If it’ll shut you up, I think I’ve got an idea,” he finally replied. The idea was Damballa, and it fused Charles’s primary passions in an original synthesis. “From the heart of Africa to the streets of Harlem, a new hero is born sworn to support and protect Americans of all races and creeds; he is Damballa and he strikes from the shadows.”
Ron could hardly believe his luck when he read the manuscript. It was a moment of literary history that he was proud of: the first Black pulp hero of the 1930s, just 80 years later. It was so different from everything else Charles had ever written, and yet fit immediately into his growing canon of Sword and Soul.
Charles won the Pulp Factory award for best novel for Damballa. The awards team created the prize, packed it up, and sent it to Charles. Yet somehow, they actually sent it to a very confused fan named Derrick Ferguson. He called them, alarmed, and asked why an award with his hero’s name on it was in his hands. The awards team told him just to return it and they’d get it to Charles. “No way. No way. I’m sending this to Charles on my own dime. Can I put a letter in?” Derrick asked. “By all means,” they replied.
So when the Canadian Hall of Fame sent me Charles’s plaque, I thought of that story. They hadn’t sent it to me by accident, as Charles’s estate had asked me to accept the honour on his behalf. However, as I wrote this, I realized that it had been a mistake. What was my hero’s plaque doing in my hands? This plaque belongs with Charles’s family – and dare I say it belongs in America. I am sending it home to them. I will follow Derrick’s lead and put a letter in, too, so that his descendents will know about Charles R. Saunders.
Source: To Leave a Warrior Behind: The Life and Stories of Charles R. Saunders, the Man Who Rewrote Fantasy. (McClelland & Stewart, Jan. 20 2026).