William J. Cataldi aka pup

Pup manages the household. He has recently quit his safe job at the post office to pursue his dream of writing professionally. He has long served as conversation partner to stimulate and hone Jan's work as critic and writer. He continues to write reviews of off- and off-off-Broadway theater for Hi! Drama. More recently, he has returned to prose writing. His work can be found on the pup's writing blog. And he watches over his home.

William J. Cataldi grew up in Buffalo, NY where he attended Calasanctius School. He studied intensively, especially under the personal tutelage of Mr. Wayne Chambless. He graduated in 1984 magna cum laude at fifteen and went on to spend a year in Osnabrück, West Germany, before studying Humanities at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. A friend introduced him to Eastern religion. It was then that he became a life-long Christian Taoist.

Finally free of the intensity of Calasanctius and free to explore his libido, Bill developed bad habits which hobbled his studies. He spent two years in Karlsruhe, West Germany, where he was introduced to the mind-blowing implications of mathematical logic and university-level Math. He became fluent in German, but then returned to Wesleyan only to crash and burn.

He developed mental illness issues in the nineties, which plagued him for that decade until he could be stabilized. However, these issues led to some of the most intriguing and profound insights of his intellectual life, which are detailed in Sex and God and Other Essays, as well as in an upcoming autobiographical novel entitled Opting Out.

In the years leading up to his move to New York, Bill gradually approached Leatherculture. He finally studied Leather and SM with a brilliant Master in Buffalo. It was here that he acquired the name “pup.” He maintains a keen interest and love for Leather. Leather inhabits his soul like his homosexuality inhabits his soul, but he no longer lives the scene hardcore.

In 1994, pup met Mr. Ewing, Boss, during the most intense play weekend of their lives. pup moved in shortly thereafter. Boss and pup have been contented, fulfilled partners for thirty years.

During those years, Bill worked at various blue-collar jobs, and studied book composition with Jan. He went on to a twelve-year career in financial document composition. Leaving that in frustration, he attended CCNY in Upper Manhattan, and once again left when he discovered he wasn’t truly interested in academia. Subsequently, he signed on as a letter carrier with the postal service. This job suited him well for seven years. Now he has quit to devote himself to his dream of writing professionally, i.e. he wants money.

Under Boss’ influence, pup wrote Sex and God and Other Essays from October 2014 to August 2015. He also wrote a quarter of his novel, Opting Out. He had found his calling. In 2020, pup wrote Love v. Marriage, a play about the dark side of same-sex marriage. It can be found on the Sample PDFs page.

This year (2023), Bill assembled a new book: The Secret of Manhood. A quarter of the sixteen pieces were the product of writing he had done with no thought of a book before 2023. Bill wrote the other twelve pieces this year. The book tackles the tricky question of male spirituality. He hopes for professional publication of this considerable accomplishment, so it will be a while before anyone gets to see it. He does not want to self-publish this. For inquiries write to pupsbooks@icloud.com.