Saunders was born in 1946 in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania and emigrated to Canada in 1970. He has published science fiction and screenplays, two of which have become feature films. Saunders has also written a radio play, as well as other non-fiction works. He later worked as a journalist in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is the author of two recent works of historical non-fiction: Share and Care: The Story of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children and Black and Bluenose: The Contemporary History of a Community.