Jim Ryan Books

The St Jude’s Book Club members have had enough of reading the same old tripe, week in, week out. Page after page of lacklustre rubbish has taken its toll on their beleaguered club and they need something new for their energetic little group.When one of them suggests they write something themselves it is taken on board and soon Helen, the local lollipop lady and crazy cat woman, has come up with the idea that they should write their own version of Dick Whittington and then put the show on at the local village hall.What follows is a light-hearted and amusing tale of friendship and love, jealousy and courage, all played out with a smattering of ambition which is beyond most of the cast.But can the Book Club really pull it off? Are they able to put their petty differences aside to make a success of the show? And will they all still be on speaking terms come the night of the performance? Only time will tell.

Many air forces can conduct missions such as air superiority and ground attack, but only the US Air Force has truly global reach. For more than five decades, the essential enabler of this global reach has been the KC-135 Stratotanker. Unarmed and unglamorous, the KC-135 has been one of the most successful and enduring aircraft in US Air Force history. Primarily based on the author's extensive access to operational KC-135 aircraft on the ground and in flight, this book contains the most detailed photographic documentation of the KC-135 inside and out that has ever been published, as well as color profiles of the KC-135R in the markings of every major USAF command that has operated that variant.