She and her husband Russell raised five children, two boys and three girls,[2] and it was for her family that Shiras began creating stories.
Her story "In Hiding" was submitted in 1948 to John W. Campbell, Jr.'s influential magazine Astounding Science Fiction, where it was published in the November issue.
The story, about extraordinarily gifted children who were struggling to find their place in the world, struck a chord with readers and became a classic, rapidly appearing in multiple anthologies.
The book, about "the inevitable adjustments and maladjustments of minority genius to majority mediocrity", was hailed as another step in science fiction's coming of age, as it focused more in intellectual analysis and less on gadget-driven "space opera"[4] She was credited for writing which showed a deep knowledge of people, and also demonstrated a foundation of Thomistic philosophy.
"[6] Shiras's stories "In Hiding," "Opening Doors," and "New Foundations" became the first three chapters of Children of the Atom,[3] and they have been credited, but never confirmed, as a source of inspiration for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s world-famous comic book creation, The Uncanny X-Men.