Samuel Mines was a prominent American editor and writer who famously directed Standard Magazines' flagship science fiction pulps—including Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories—during the early 1950s. Known for his open-minded and progressive editorial vision, Mines championed groundbreaking new talent by publishing the debut sci-fi stories of legendary authors like Frank Herbert and Philip José Farmer.

After leaving the sci-fi pulp scene in the mid-1950s when the industry began to decline, he transitioned into a career as a professional writer, producing books like The Conquest of Pain (1974) and The Last Days of Mankind: Ecological Survival or Extinction (1971).