My memory contains some 50 of our years in the book business, from the late 1960s until now. It’s a great heritage but some of what I learned is now obsolete, and I believe my efficacy and pleasure are best served focusing on the present. Well-established in Trolley Square for almost 12 years now, we enjoy the custom and affection of contemporary Salt Lake City readers. Many of Weller Book Works’ good traits could not have developed without our history but had Sam not broadened Gus’s vision and had Catherine and I not reassessed Sam and Lila’s, we might not have survived the decades. I am proud of us for not permitting our storied past to prevent us from evolving along with our culture. Our bookstore has accommodated numerous cultural shifts in its time. Controversy aside, I truly wish I could show our forebears what we have become.

Here is a very brief recapitulation of our bookstore’s founding and past. My grandfather and grandmother, Gustav and Margaret Weller were Mormon converts who immigrated to Salt Lake City from Germany via Canada in the spring of 1925. They came with five children, adding seven more within the decade. Sam Weller was the third child. Before August of 1929, Gus Weller ran a mostly second-hand shop called Salt Lake Furniture, Bedding and Radio at 14 East 1st South. I never heard my grandfather’s description, but Sam, who was only eight when it occurred, remembers that his father encountered a large and quality collection of LDS books in the course of his work and decided to change his business into Zion’s Bookstore. We believe it happened in August 1929, right before the Great Depression hobbled the Nation. With his adolescent and teenage children, Gustav operated the bookstore for a decade, moving it twice, before moving the younger part of his family to Marion, Utah to farm. In 1932 he had moved the bookstore to 28 East 1st South and in 1939, to 65 East 2nd South. After 1939, he staffed the store with the older children, who had remained in Salt Lake City when he moved to the farm.

In 1943, Sam was drafted into the army to fight in World War Two. By then, his older brother John had left the family business and while the war was fought, Zion’s Bookstore was staffed by the three oldest Weller daughters, Ruth, Rachel and Eve. In January, 1946 Sam was discharged and returned to Salt Lake City hoping to use the GI Bill to attend college. But his father had a different idea, and Sam, at the age of 24, took responsibility for his father’s business, which had not fared well during the depression and the war. But post-war economies were better and Sam’s hard working ethic and extreme charisma enabled him to save the bookstore and grow it in the late 1940s and ’50s. As present-day defenders of freedom of the press, we enjoy knowing that during this period, Sam covertly sold banned books by Henry Miller and DH Lawrence to trusted clients, and also resisted local calls for him to not sell certain works critical of the Mormon Church—most notably Fawn Brodie’s recently published and hailed biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History. It is doubtful he mentioned such to his father.

Not long after meeting Sam in his bookstore, Lila was hired as secretary to Theron Liddle, Managing Editor at The Deseret News. Lila and Sam started dating and she began moonlighting in the bookstore, relieving Sam of bookkeeping. In 1953 they married. She resigned from Des. News and added her skills to Sam’s in the bookstore, controlling the cash flow and innovating a sophisticated pre-computer inventory system that would endure until the first computers entered our bookstore in 1989. I sometimes imagine her as the producer and my father as the master of ceremonies.

In 1961, Sam and Lila moved Zion’s Bookstore to its fourth location at 254 South Main Street. This is the location most readers remember. When the bookstore first moved into the David Keith Building, it was extremely similar in size, dimensions and staff to the one we operate today. By the time we relocated in 2011, we had expanded several times to an eventual labyrinth of rooms filled with books. I was born in January 1962 and adopted by the Wellers only days after my birth. I was their only child, and with both parents working, I spent much time in their bookstore, not yet understanding how that culture was seeping into me.

In 1972, my dad put me to work. After school, I rode my bicycle downtown to the bookstore to perform menial tasks. I have worked in the bookstore nearly constantly since then. In the early 1980s, Sam’s name was added to the business and we became Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore. During the ’80s I performed office functions for a few years until Sam began training me to assist with buying and pricing book collections. I also took responsibility for hiring and scheduling. In the 1990s, we dropped Zion and became known as Sam Weller’s Books. Catherine Weller began working here in 1994, following a decade of work in University of Utah libraries.

The 1990s was a decade of chaos for booksellers. While the industry scrambled for balance in the new digital paradigm, we grappled with personal transitional challenges when Sam’s age began to affect his health. When he lost his vision in 1997, his retirement became permanent. At 81, Lila Weller was still in charge of the business finances, but with Sam recently disabled, she retired as well two months hence.

In 2000, Catherine became our lead new book buyer, as she is today. In 2001, I gained membership in the ABAA and ILAB, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Many bookstores went out of business in the 1990s. Obviously, we survived, but those were not easy years. Many factors combined led us to move following the 2008/2009 recession. And our once-trafficked neighborhood had lost nearly all retail stores that were not within malls. Between 2009 and 2011, we crafted and executed plans to relocate the bookstore. We became Weller Book Works in tribute to our heritage, but indicating a cultural step forward. Our store is old, but we are not; for hell’s sake, we sell ideas.

In 2012, we opened Weller Book Works in Trolley Square. We traded our Main Street basement for free parking on Martin Luther King Boulevard. The first years here were not easy but the move saved the bookstore and now we are marking our 94th year in the book business. Our new stance is comfortably progressive. As booksellers, we respect freedom of the press and the freedom to read. We accept diversity as natural and find joy in it. We will sell you books you want and defend your right to privacy. We are empowering readers and envisioning inclusive cultures that transcend the conflicts of history. How can we read great thoughts and not make them our own?

The Collector’s Chat during our July 28th Salon will be given by Nathan Nielson, founder of Books & Bridges, a literary program hosted here at Weller Book Works until displaced by COVID a few years ago. His chat is called “A Russian Literary Journey.” Neilson received a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in Russian & International Relations and a master’s in Liberal Arts from the Great Books Program of St. John’s College. He worked as a Russian linguist in the intelligence community and works as a public relations and communications professional. Nielson’s literary journey began in Moscow and continues still. He argues that the best way to understand the soul of a people is to dive into their highest literary tradition.

Of his chat, Nathan writes: “Historically, Russians have been a highly literate, well-read population. Their writers are their true prophets and presidents. The vaunted and mysterious Russian soul, though embedded in national soil, has a universal embrace. The great Russian novelists and poets turned the sorrow of tyranny and suffering into beautiful works of human connection, a magical process of alchemy and empathy. To paint a small picture of a people’s big heart, I will discuss and share books I brought from Russia—Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, Aleksandr Pushkin, and other Russian classics.”

The Collector’s Chat at our August 25th Salon will be given by CJ Peterson. He is one of the founders of Nature’s Fusions, a full-service essential oil, cosmetic, and supplement manufacturing company, and sits on the Board of Directors for the Rollins School of Entrepreneurship at BYU. However, CJ’s passion lies in tangible bits of history and he has collected books for his entire adult life. Peterson started Kona Books as a boutique book hunting service in 2009 while living in Chicago. After moving to Utah and attending BYU, he expanded his collection and his clientele until eventually opening a bookstore and an art gallery, Artifacts of History, and The Artifacts Gallery in the Provo Towne Centre Mall in 2021. Today his personal collection reflects the offerings found in his shop and gallery: the history of Utah, Western Expansion, the LDS Church, Music, and Native Americans.

CJ will be talking about his collection and what draws him to collect. He will show a number of rare books owned by early Utah Pioneers such as Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff. He will bring a trumpet owned and played by Louis Armstrong, an interesting artifact from the Pony Express, and some early western art by artists like Charles Marian Russell.

Join us both Fridays, July 28 and August 25. Nathan Nielson; CJ Peterson. We start at 6:30.

Usually we present a variety of items here to show the breadth of books we provide. Topics I know best fit into that breadth, but naturally I can never know enough. So I hope you’ll forgive me for barely adequate familiarity with the works of Aleister Crowley. I know main titles but what makes our recent acquisition exciting, is the presence of several obscure works, along with ones better known. The following eight titles constitute a mere sampling. As always, Weller Book Works is best experienced in person.

777 vel Prolegomena Symbolica ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticae Viae Explicandae, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicum Sanctissimorum Scientiae Summae. London: Walter Scott, 1909. 1 of 500 copies. Discreet tissue repairs to spine head. Front free endsheet and Additional Errata page (which was oddly tipped into the fold of the front endsheet) are torn out and missing. Brief notes from previous owner in a few margins and on recto of ad page for subscriptions to The Equinox. Rear endsheet is stained, likely by a now lost newspaper clipping. $2000

The Book of Lies, which is also Falsely Called Breaks: The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One Thought of Frater Perdurabo, Which Thought is Itself Untrue. This copy is a Gordon reprint from 1974. A red hardcover with only “Breaks” and Crowley’s name on cover. Near fine condition. $200

The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians. 5th Weiser printing. New York, 1974. Blue cloth with gilt lettered spine. In an unclipped pictorial dust jacket with rubbing and shallow scuffs. $250

The Commentaries of AL: Being the Equinox Volume V No. 1. 1st edition from Samuel Weiser in New York, 1975. Red cloth with gilt embossing. In a chipped and soiled dust jacket with small pieces missing from edges. Red ink stamp on front endsheet reads “Property of Ordo Templi Orientis ℅ Menthu Lodge.” $425

Jephthah and Other Mysteries Lyrical and Dramatic. London: Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1899. 1st edition. Simple printer’s boards under cloth backstrip with now soiled and chipped paper label. Quite soiled and rubbed with boards showing through at edges. Front hinge cracked but holding well on bands. Previous owner’s name on front endsheet. $1500

Liber Aleph vel CXI: the Book of Wisdom or Folly in the Form of an Epistle. Equinox, volume III, No. vi. West Point, California: Thelema Publishing Co., 1962. Red cloth with gilt lettering. Edges are rubbed and soiled, as are endsheets. Pages are clean but edges are yellowed. The remarkable trait of our copy of this scarce title is its seldom seen dust jacket—creepy cool design. $750

The Magical Record of the Beast 666: The Diaries of Aleister Crowley 1914-1920. Edited with copious annotations by John Symonds and Kenneth Grant. 1st edition. Montreal: Next Step Publications, 1972. Red cloth with gilt lettered spine. Samuel Weiser address label affixed to front pastedown. $450

Olla: An Anthology of Sixty Years of Song. London: O.T.O., [1946]. Brown cloth quarto. One of 500 copies. $300

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There is an age-old question in sci-fi: are you the same person after teleportation? When you are atomized and blasted through the universe, who will be reconstituted on the other side? Does the journey affect you? Will your body and thoughts be the same? In his best work yet, Matthew J. Kirby explores this grand philosophical thought experiment in a pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller. And isn’t that the best way to untangle theories about consciousness?

Now, please bear with me as I try to describe this book and everything I loved about it without revealing the unbelievable twists:

Jessica is understandably pissed when her parents call her away from her grandparents, friends, and entire life to help them on a research mission orbiting an uncharted planet. To make matters worse, she has to beam her consciousness across lightyears to get there, burning her body away to dust in the process. She is too angry at her parents to wonder if she will make the journey. But when she wakes up, her parents are not there to greet her. She's not even in orbit! She finds herself alone in a crashed ship smack on the surface of the virgin planet. The ship is completely empty, save some ominous blood stains on the walls. As she starts to assess her situation further, Jessica finds that she might not be as alone as she thinks. And the monster may be more familiar than she expects.

Writing with heart and a whole lot of empathy, Kirby brings Jessica off the page. He uses her fascinating voice and personality to explore how different a person can be based on their circumstances. How much do our actions and choices influence our deepest beliefs about ourselves? Jessica is the perfect character for this story: she is fierce and full of teenage rage, which fuels her through her harrowing journey and fight for survival. What makes her so engaging is her refusal to give in. Her goals are clear and she knows herself (which comes in very handy as the story unravels) in the face of danger. The reader can see how her choices shape her thoughts and actions—even where she might diverge from the person who stepped into that fateful teleporter.

And who, indeed, steps through that teleporter? As the story weaves between Jessica’s old life, and her race to survive, we get to see her grow and change right before our eyes. After she arrives into the hellscape of her downed ship, her wonder turns to dread. The trauma of what takes place creates such a different perspective that it is almost as if there are a couple different versions of Jessica winding their way through the book. Present and past are so different in their approaches to the world that it is a thrill to see Jessica make the moves she does.

Having such a well-rounded lead helps amplify the horror elements of the book, as well. Jessica is so fleshed out as a person, that our attachment is greater for her. She's not just another personality-devoid Final Girl going through the motions of a meat grinder slasher. For all her badassery, she is vulnerable, young, and in way over her head. Her fumbles and mistakes are real, and the consequences are dire.

Kirby is relentless in the book’s pacing and keeps the tension at a boiling point for an edge-of-your-seat, jaw-clenching ride. If you are in need of a summer blockbuster read, Star Splitter is it.

By Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ilmar has been under Palseen occupation for years now. The people are on the brink of revolution—even the smallest act can spark this powder keg. And just such an event occurs around a smoky gambling table late at night, deep in a basement: an important magical ward is stolen from a notable occupier. As news of the theft spreads throughout the city of Ilmar, everything spins out of control in what feels like heartbeats.

With an ensemble cast that rivals other revolution stories (looking at you, Les Misérables and Hamilton) it’s hard not to get sucked into this book. Each character is well-rounded and hilarious, with motivations that are unique and absolutely human. The unwilling disciple of a peaceful god, the over-eager student who will stop at nothing to prove her loyalty to the revolution (or maybe just her loyalty to the idea of revolution), and even the fashion-forward hangman are just a handful of the denizens that we get to meet. The comedy of the story is highlighted through top-notch dialogue, and all the ways each character reacts to the absurdity of the growing tensions. A single choice will ripple through everyone, and it’s thrilling to see.

The city is a robust character in itself as well, bursting with color and magic—even if it is all under a coat of grime. The streets feel familiar and worn as Tchaikovsky brings them to life. He paints such a realistic picture of the city that we too experience the feeling of loss of the city to the occupiers. As the characters move about in their plotlines, they crisscross the streets of Ilmar, showing a once-great place that is now on the precipice of war. It’s a place that, for all its darkness and grime, is home to these characters.

Beyond the story and great characters, the underlying revolution bubbles away. Tchaikovsky captures a world on edge, and is able to explore the deep emotions attached to it. Wrapped up in the delightful rat-race chaos of the story is a strong current of compassion and community. Even as far out as the ideas are, the story always finds its way back to the interconnectedness of humanity.

By Byron Lane

There’s what you anticipate and what you end up experiencing, and they’re frequently different. This is no earth-shattering insight, of course, but it serves as a useful entry point for my experience of this novel. When I chose Byron Lane’s Big Gay Wedding as my next reading adventure, I expected a wacky madcap romp—a gay male rom-com perhaps similar to Billy Eichner’s 2022 film Bros in literary form. And don’t get me wrong, Big Gay Wedding is everything you’d expect from a book with that title—but it’s a lot more too. It’s an exploration of how love can connect and heal, and how, in a world engulfed in division and hatred, kindness can be a subversive act of its own. Thinking I knew what I was getting into and being wrong to some degree was not only my experience of this novel, it’s also the experience of the story’s protagonist as well.

Widow Chrissy Durang’s whole world is Polite Society Ranch, her Louisiana farm where no animal is destined to be eaten or worn. It is in fact a sanctuary for animals few other farms would be interested in—an aged, ailing sheep, a blind chicken, a skinny pig, an alpaca with alopecia, and so many others. These misfit creatures, mostly named after ’90s sitcom characters, are lovingly cared for and permitted to live out their lives in comfort and dignity. The only thing Chrissy loves more than the inhabitants of her farm, indeed, is the apple of her eye—her son Barnett. The fact that her son is gay is something Chrissy rarely thinks about—it’s safely compartmentalized in her mind under the “The Big Thing.” Having several years ago defected to Los Angeles (which Chrissy calls “Loony Tunes”), Barnett’s visits home have been few and far between.

But now a visit is imminent, and Chrissy just knows that the big news her son spoke of on the phone is that her prodigal son is moving home to take over the ranch, just like she always dreamed of. Imagine her shock when Barnett arrives, with a suspiciously arty-looking young man, whom he introduces as Ezra Tanner—his fiancé. This shock, however, is dwarfed when during an awkward group video chat with Ezra’s New York socialite mother, Chrissy finds herself “agreeing” to hold the engagement dinner there at her farm. By the time Ezra’s mother, father, and sister have flown in from Manhattan and somehow the decision is made that the wedding itself will be held at the ranch, Chrissy has no shock left in her. Just a wedding to host. Of course she has to oblige—it’s “Polite Society Ranch,” not “Backward Hick Mother Ranch.” But Chrissy doesn’t quite know how to cope with all this. She loves her son more than anything in the world, and wants him to be happy, although she does sometimes think Barnett’s homosexuality is what killed his father, her beloved husband. But if he wants his wedding to be at her farm, and planned by his fiancé’s sister, and for it to include live swans, fireflies, fog machines, organic fireworks, a marzipan statue of himself and Ezra, and a drag bar (whatever that is), she will somehow bring herself to make it happen.

The acronym “LOL” is overused in our lives, but I actually did literally laugh out loud frequently while reading Big Gay Wedding. Lane has a sharp ear for dialogue, and his characters are hilarious as they cope with the strange circumstances they find themselves in. (Ezra’s cosmopolitan family thinks Chrissy’s farm is as bizarre as she thinks they are.) This was perhaps to be expected. What I didn’t expect from this book was its tenderness, the compassion and love the author clearly has for all his characters. He sees them so clearly, despite their very different perspectives and points of view. Regardless of their vast differences, he lovingly portrays their essential humanity and gently reveals that at the most basic, primal level, all human beings really want is to be loved. There were tears in my eyes as I finished this book.

In life we rarely get exactly what we want or expect. How we deal with what we actually get, and how kind we are to our fellow humans, is perhaps the true measure of our lives. Big Gay Wedding is a wonderful novel that I recommend to anyone looking for a fast, fun read that’ll gently pull on some heartstrings as well.

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