George William Lanning Jr. (July 30, 1925 – August 5, 1995) was an American editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned the 1950s through the 1980s.

His father was born in Yarmouth in Elgin County, Ontario, and moved to the United States in 1904.

While continuing his association with Kenyon College after graduating (he received a Fellowship in Fiction in 1954–1955), he was an assistant editor at The World Publishing Company.

Kenyon College closed down the magazine due to financial burdens; the last issue (Vol.

[3] His first professional sale of a short story was "Old Turkey Neck" in Tomorrow magazine in 1950, while still a student at Kenyon.