Paul W. Fairman was an editor and writer in a variety of genres under his own name and pseudonyms. He published his first story in 1950 in Amazing Stories. Two years later, he was the founding editor of If, but only edited four issues. In 1955, he became the editor of Amazing Stories and Fantastic. He held that dual position until 1958.

After leaving Ziff-Davis, the magazines' publisher, he focused on writing his own work, often under different names. He ghost-wrote several juveniles, such as The Runaway Robot (1965), based on outlines by Lester del Rey, whose name appeared on the books. He also wrote the Sherlock Holmes part of Ellery Queen's A Study In Terror (1966), in which Ellery finds a previously unknown Sherlock Holmes manuscript.