Thrilling Publications, aka Beacon Magazines (1936–37), Better Publications (1937–43) and Standard Magazines (1943–55), was a pulp magazine publisher run by Ned Pines, publishing such titles as Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories.
A native of Malden, Massachusetts, Pines became the president of Pines Publications in 1928. Leo Margulies, a long-time editor with Pines, was the highest-paid pulp editor for many years. Pines folded most of his magazines in 1955 but continued to lead the company until 1961.
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Pines sought out and hired leading, freelance illustrators of the day to create high-impact cover art for his extensive line of pulp magazines, comics, and paperbacks. Prolific artists like Earle K. Bergey and George Rozen produced hundreds of imaginative, even lurid, cover paintings that are now visually synonymous with the Thrilling pulp brand and a diverse roster of genres that include science fiction, fantasy, romance, westerns, and detective.
Pines also ran a Thrilling Publications comic book line, which most collectors refer to as Nedor Comics.
Pines started Popular Library in 1942, a paperback publishing house, and devoted himself to that company after closing his other ventures. Popular reprinted materials from the pulps. Pines was the president of Popular Library from 1942 to 1966 and its chairman from 1966 to 1968. Retiring in 1971, he continued to work as a consultant.
A complete history of the Thrilling chain is available in the anthology, Thrilling Pulp Heroes (Adventure House, 2006).