Gannon, of Northampton, had worked as a reporter in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 1980s, covering civil war and human rights abuses that made international headlines. Gannon, 54, was eventually released without harm, and he's long since left his reporting days behind; today he's a middle school English teacher, and he's worked in the film industry and taught English overseas. [...] he's also recalled some of his experiences and the volatile era he covered in his debut novel, "Night of the Jaguar," a thriller set in the aftermath of Nicaragua's bloody civil war and the Sandinista government's continued fight against the U.S.-backed "Contra" forces. "Night of the Jaguar," published by Minotaur Books, a division of St.