Seth Morgan (novelist)

Seth Morgan (1949 - October 17, 1990) was an American novelist, the author of Homeboy, published in 1990.

Biography

Morgan was the son of George Frederick Morgan, heir to the Ivory Soap fortune. Morgan briefly attended Berkeley.[1] After dropping out, he began a relationship with singer Janis Joplin and was her fiance at the time of her death in 1970. Their relationship became public knowledge in Joplin's obituary in Time.[2]

Morgan's only title published was Homeboy (ISBN 0394575776) a novel of heroin addicts and convicts. In it Morgan used several experiences from his own life, including time spent as a barker at strip clubs in San Francisco and 30 months spent in jail for armed robbery in the mid 1970s. While incarcerated Morgan won the P.E.N. essay contest for convicts.

In 1986-1987, Morgan mostly managed to keep his demons at bay and was living in New Orleans in the Lower Garden District at 1232 St. Andrew Street, a rental property owned by Metairie resident Marcel Jaffe. During this time, Seth was sober, spending his time writing, going to AA/NA meetings, working out at the Lee's Circle YMCA, and hanging out at the Hummingbird Grill, a legendary New Orleans greasy spoon that has since closed.

In the spring of 1990, the publication of Homeboy led to positive reviews and book-signing engagements for Morgan in several cities, including San Francisco, where 17 years earlier he had impaled a bystander's hand with a knife during an armed robbery.[3] Morgan told Suzie Groover, who accompanied him on the publicity tour, that he was afraid of getting arrested on outstanding warrants from years earlier.[3]

On October 16, 1990. Morgan was arrested in New Orleans for DUI. The next day, Morgan left a New Orleans bar, boarded his motorcycle with girlfriend Suzy Levine, and crashed into a cement embankment below a New Orleans bridge. According to their autopsies, both had high blood-alcohol levels and significant amounts of cocaine in their systems.[3]

Seth Morgan has been cited as a major influence on the works of Craig Clevenger and Will Christopher Baer.

References

  1. ^ "Seth Morgan's last ride". Esquire. February, 1991. http://www.janisjoplin.net/articles/36. 
  2. ^ "Blues For Janis." Time (magazine). 19 October 1970, p.63.
  3. ^ a b c Harris, Art. "The Last Ride of a Rebel Writer; For Seth Morgan, Drugs, Crime & An Instant Legend." Washington Post. 12 February 1991, p. D2.

External links