John Shors is a Colorado writer with some bragging rights.
He’s been praised by Wally Lamb and Amy Tan — and The Denver Post for his first novel “Beneath a Marble Sky.”
His latest novel, “Cross Currents,” was chosen as the book of the month in September’s National Geographic Traveler. But all of that pales in comparison to his big score. “Cross Currents” is on the book table at Costco.
Seems the bookbuyer for Costco is Pennie Clark Ianniciello, one of the most influential people in the publishing industry. Shors sent her his first novel, and she took a shine to the guy. So here he is, back again on her shelf — the shelf you want to be on — next to “The Help.” Good company.
“So it’s in Costcos all over the country,” says Shors. “It’s such a coup, and I am so lucky. It’s just impossible to get in there.”
The best thing about buying the book in Costco is that it resembles a normal retail situation. You don’t have to buy 100 of them, just one for $8.99.
Ping
I remember when Pong was an exciting video game. If you miss it, you can go to SMASH! tonight and every Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. at Exdo to play pingpong.
It’s way cooler than you think.
In Denver, it’s the brainstorm of man-about-town Josh Hanfling. He bought a full container of tables in China, 96 in all, sold some, and put up more than 20 in the Exdo space. And it’s a national rage, first backed in NYC by Susan Sarandon at her Spin pingpong lounge two years ago and then in Los Angeles last year.
“We opened last Tuesday as a benefit for Invest in Kids and raised a bucket of money for them,” says Hanfling. “We have a DJ, full bar, food, even a beer pong room. It’s a good time, a different kind of experience. If it grows, we’ll start adding other nights.”
BTW, Hanfling is moving to work in London in January — so we won’t have Josh to kick around anymore.
Auction fever
New Genesis, a local transitional homeless shelter, is back with its Date/Experience Auction on Oct. 13 at Mile High Station. Here’s a quick wrap of some of the wild experiences that come with lotsa extras: You and three friends can make hooch with a master distiller at Breckenridge Distillery; go dog sledding and partying with Jordan Bullock in Aspen; go to LA, stay at the Standard and hang out with doctor/actor Matt Iseman; host a party for 25 in the D&F Clocktower; lunch with me at Elway’s Cherry Creek after a stop at the Blow Dry Lounge and some shopping, all with a limo. And there’s more I’ll tell you about in the next column. Tix are $45 and up at .
City spirit
The Flobots Annual Fundraising Event Bowling Ball 3, raising money for music programs in Denver Public Schools, rolls into Lucky Strike Belmar from 6 p.m. to midnight Saturday. Info at . . . . Sez who: “I had never expected that the China initiative would come to fruition in the form of a pingpong team.” Richard M. Nixon
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com. Take a peek at Husted’s next column at .
