Charles Robert Saunders (July 12, 1946 – May 2020) was an African-American writer and journalist. Saunders pioneered the sword and soul genre, an African-inspired variant of sword and sorcery, Sauders' most famous series being Imaro, published in Gene Day's Dark Fantasy fanzine, also through Gene Day, published the essay To Kush and Beyond: The Black Kingdoms of the Hyborian Age in The Savage Sword of Conan #56 (1980)