A.C. Katt
Author A.C. Katt passed away peacefully in her sleep on June 21, 2017. As many authors do, Mary Lynn Hansel (playfully) wrote under the pseudonym of A.C. Katt at the start of her literary career in 2007. Actually, A.C. took the name of the family cat. You know, the one that couldn’t resist the urge to bite any AC line cord that mistakenly snaked its way across the floor!
Mary Lynn was born in NYC and grew up in Hazlet, NJ. A smart woman, she was once a contestant on the quiz show Jeopardy! Prior to 2003, she was a much in demand executive secretary with mid-sized New Jersey technical companies. Then a major illness almost ended her life. With her strong will to live and the support of her family, she recovered, but her illness didn’t leave her with enough stamina to continue her corporate ambitions.
Mary Lynn was an avid (speed) reader all her life; she could inhale a 200 page novel in something less than 3 hours and call it an evening’s worth of entertainment! She especially enjoyed science and fantasy fiction, as well as bodice ripper and all manner of M/F romance novels. And she became somewhat of an expert on 15th–20th Century English history.
Of course, all this entertainment didn’t come cheap -- by 2006, she had accumulated well over 1,000 hardcover novels of her favorite books! At that point, her darling husband started grumbling about her $250/month book bill. So, by the end of her convalescence in 2006, he strongly suggested she should stop complaining about the (not so infrequent) trashy novels she read and instead use the time to write some of her own. Truth be known, she was continuing the family business. Her father John Welch was an engaging storyteller who would entrance her boyfriends with his stories. Also, during her high school and college days, Mary Lynn was fond of expressing her feelings in poetry and song lyrics.
In 2008, A.C. and her husband relocated to Rio Rancho, NM, and she started her writing career in earnest. They found themselves a beautiful, 2,200 sq. ft. ranch with a huge kitchen and a backyard with an enchanting view of the Sandia Mountains. She wrote with passion and compassion about the LGBTQ community and connected with fans through her blogs. Her stories were filled with interesting characters and the plot lines always had an emphasis on character development. Also, while in NM, A.C. and her husband both loved to bake and cook, so her books always relied on tantalizing descriptions of food and locations. A.C. and her husband actively participated in Democratic Party events, hosting several successful political -- you might call them dialing for dollars -- gatherings.
After 8 years in Rio Rancho, desiring to reconnect with family, Mary Lynn decided it was time to return to NJ. So she packed up the cat and the husband and took the 2,100-mile trip to her new home in Jackson, NJ. Finally, after 9 months of being surrounded by family, she was laid to rest under a large spreading oak tree in Freehold, NJ, on the northern edge of the Freehold Raceway Mall. Oh, did I mention she like to clothing shop?
Family, friends, and fans will dearly miss this lovingly creative personality. She is survived by her husband of 29 years, their four children, ten grandchildren, and many fans. She authored 34 gay erotic romance titles in ten years and was a valued member of the LGBTQ literary world. On her tombstone are written the words:
AC had stories to tell
Until she couldn’t!