Patricia Kennealy-Morrison (1946-2021)

SF writer and music critic Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, 75, died July 23, 2021.

Patricia Kennely was born March 4, 1946 in Brooklyn NY and grew up in Long Island NY. She attended St. Bonaventure University, where she studied journalism, and Binghamton University, graduating with an English Literature BA. After college she worked at Macmillan as a lexicographer and editorial assistant. She was one of the first women rock and roll critics, and was a writer and later editor-in-chief for music magazine Jazz & Pop in the 1960s. She also worked in advertising.

She met Jim Morrison of rock band The Doors in 1969 during an interview, and they became romantically involved, exchanging vows during a Celtic handfasting in 1970 (though they were not legally married). He predeceased her in 1971. She wrote a memoir about her experience: Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison (1992).

She published under birth name Patricia Kennely and variant Patricia Kennealy before legally changing her name to Patricia Kennealy-Morrison; she has also published as Patricia Morrison.

She wrote SF series The Keltiad, inspired by Celtic mythology, beginning with the Tales of Aeron trilogy: The Copper Crown (1985), The Throne of Scone (1986), and The Silver Branch (1988). The Tales of Arthur series is The Hawk’s Gray Feather (1990), The Oak Above the Kings (1994), and The Hedge of Mist (1996). Related short fiction appears in Tales of Spiral Castle: Stories of the Keltiad (2014).

She also wrote the Rock & Roll Murders mystery series, and published some books through her own house, Lizard Queen Press, founded in 2007. She wrote non-fiction Rock Chick: A Girl and Her Music (2013).

For more, see her entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.