The cover of Roger Drouin's No Other Way

Surely you remember the name Roger Drouin. During his stint as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune‘s city hall reporter between 2007 and 2009, Drouin landed countless local stories on the front page of our daily — notching scoop after scoop.

When he left the paper, it was to earn his MFA in the Florida Atlantic University creative writing program. It takes guts to leave a paying writing gig these days (trust me), but Drouin did it, and now he’s making waves with the publication of his first novel, No Other Way. The book tells the story of a bird photographer who finds himself in the middle of a fight to protect a remote forest targeted for natural gas exploration.

The book’s earning positive notices from a variety of readers. You can pick up a copy via Amazon.com in a print or electronic edition, and you can even read the first three chapters for free over at Smashwords.

Quality local books are rare — give this one a go.