ReadersFavorite.com Awards Heslop Gold for General Fiction/Realistic Category

Sept. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- Arizona Author David J. Heslop has earned the Gold Award in General Fiction in what ReadersFavorite.com describes as one of the most competitive contests to date.  Winners were announced on Thursday, September 1st, 2011.

This is not Heslop's first award.  In 2005 his debut novel, Red Cloud Pistachios was a prizewinner in the Arizona Statewide Writers Contest.

Imagined in contemporary Arizona, Red Cloud Pistachios is the story of a man's struggle to come to terms with his past and with the son he abandoned.  Set on a pistachio farm in southeastern Arizona and in parts of Sonora, Mexico, Red Cloud Pistachios shows us the capacity of people to hope for the best in others and in themselves.

“David has created characters that are injured and conflicted, but with warmth that made me cheer their successes.”  Gail M., Boston, MA

"[T]he book introduced me to an entire cast of characters, several of whom were so well developed that I just wanted to keep reading about them."  Tara K., Tucson, AZ

Readers Favorite was founded in 2005 by online reviewer Debra Gaynor to provide "a comprehensive and easy-to-use hub for authors and readers."  She has earned the respect of industry leaders such as Amazon, Penguin, Random House and some of today's leading authors and agents.

Heslop is a 25-year veteran of the advertising industry.  Over the course of his tenure he has earned numerous regional and national honors, including a regional Emmy Award for broadcast promotion, and national Best of Category for transit.  In 2000, he moved from Boston, MA to Tucson, Arizona with his wife.  

A 2nd Edition of Red Cloud Pistachios is now available and features a foreword by Joseph Maxwell Johnson and revised formatting for the ebook market.  Heslop is currently at work on a companion novel entitled These Barren Hills.

The novel is available at these and other online booksellers:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9319; http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036TH5HI?ie=UTF8&tag=r...