William H. Keith's career started in 1978, when he and his brother J. Andrew Keith had seen ads in Journal of the Travellers Aid Society that stated that Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was seeking authors; Loren Wiseman brought them on to begin freelancing for GDW in 1978 or 1979, and together the three of them set up a lot of the early tone for the Traveller universe. He has been prolific science fiction author ever since. He has been writing under pseudonyms most notably as Ian Douglas: his military science fiction sagas The Galactic Marines saga, that's split in three trilogy-arks: Heritage Trilogy, Legacy Trilogy and Inheritance Trilogy as well as the Star Carrier saga and his cyber punk series Cybernarc, written under the pen-name Robert Cain.