'Dear Stuart,' Writes A. J.

The original edition of this book was a tribute to Stuart McLean after his death on February 15, 2017, and it was produced as quickly as possible to honour him in a timely manner. Despite our best efforts, however, that edition included too many errors. And, as we discovered much later, several other tales worthy of inclusion were left out because of the pressure of meeting our deadline. Accordingly, we completed this new edition only after several series of proofreading and revision so that we could come as close as humanly possible to perfecting the refined, polished-to-a-high-sheen, smooth-to-the-touch product you hold in your hands now. In addition, the author added sixteen stories, along with his only fan letter to Mr. McLean. Fear not, however, because this volume retains Jess Milton's original introduction, the author's preface and a new introduction by the author for this release. Every story in this volume meets the same criteria as before: Like the stories from "The Story Exchange" segment of The Vinyl Café, these stories are short (with some exceptions), and they are true, but not without Mr. Mittendorf's honed and studied writing skills. And, like Mr. McLean's Dave & Morley stories, these lean toward the humourous side but include elements of the inspirational. Also, like the Dave & Morely stories, these tales are all interrelated through the characters. The unexpected result of this formula is that, while you read these stories, you become as familiar with the characters as you would in any memoir written with a single, linear plot. So the stories in this volume comprise an "episodic memoir:" One person's life rendered as a series of short, biographical tales. Think about the works of James Harriot, and you'll get the idea. Each story in this book opens and closes as a letter to Mr. McLean because that is how Mr. McLean seemed always to read the "Story Exchange" stories on the air-as letters, even though it is not necessarily how all the writers wrote them. This unique tradition is also the inspiration for this book's title.