Saberhagen was born in and grew up in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Saberhagen served as an enlisted man in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War while he was in his early twenties. Back in civilian life, Saberhagen worked as an electronics technician for the Motorola Corporation from 1958 to 1962, when he was around 30 years old.

It was while he was working for Motorola that Saberhagen started writing fiction seriously at the age of about 30. His first sale was to Galaxy Magazine, which published his short story "Volume PAA-PYX" in 1961."Fortress Ship", his first "Berserker" short shory, was published in 1963. Then, in 1964, Saberhagen saw the publication of his first novel, The Golden People.

From 1967 to 1973, he worked as an editor for Chemistry articles in the Encyclopædia Britannica as well as writing articles on science fiction. He then quit and took up writing full-time. In 1975, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He married fellow writer Joan Spicci in 1968. They had two sons and a daughter. On June 29, 2007, Saberhagen died of prostate cancer in Albuquerque.

Source: https://twelveswordsofpower.fandom.com/wiki/Fred_Saberhagen