Letter To Tom #1

*** This is a POV post where a real person or a fictional character "writes a letter to Tom." ***

Hello everybody. I've been saying for a while that I was going to start this series, and here is the first instance. Our first entry comes from our good friend Dirk Bradford. If you didn't read it he recently did a guest blog post here: POV: It's Dirk Time. I have no clue what he's going to write, but I do know that Dirk is a character. So whatever he writes will most assuredly be quite entertaining.

"Dear Tom,

That's got a ring to it doesn't it? I still think that it's crazy that you let me write a guest blog post the other day after having only known me for a day. Yet, here we are, and now I'm writing a letter to you as well. I guess inadvertently that I am also writing a letter to all of the people that read your blog. They would be so much more lucky if you had anyone else write this first post, but here I am.

I thought about writing this as Dirk Dashing. Maybe that would have made more sense. That's the story that everyone wants to read isn't it? That's what you're trying to get to happen. You're trying to get people to write letters to you as characters from their book. I hope that happens. I think that would be fun. Not only do I think that would be fun for the readers, but I think that would be fun for you. You never really know how anyone is going to react to someone that thinks they've been living their life in their subconscious. It adds another layer of complexity to the story when that "person" is a fictional character themselves.

So I guess I'm going to do the actual letter segment of the Letter to Tom segment now. I know I should have done it a fuck ton sooner, but you know me at this point. I don't really get to the point quickly with anything.

So Tom: if you, the hypothetical you that lives in a world where nothing is real and he's been living in his subconscious for twenty something years, were to to find yourself in the world of a space faring race with armor and technology that allows you to level up as Dirk Dashing does in Dirk Dashing and the 35th Universe then how would you handle that? How would you deal with that situation. Also, holy run on sentences Batman. Sorry about that. I couldn't think of a better way to word that sentence.

You've read the book so I know that you'll understand it. At the beginning of Dirk Dashing and the 35th Universe, Dirk Dashing is entrusted with state of the art technology that allows him to level up as he accomplishes the tasks that are placed in front of him by the government. That's all that he really knows how to do. He really only knows how to do what he's told.

The more I think about it though, the more I realize that you're the kind of person to question. You're the kind of person to not take things at face value. You're the kind of person to question if there's really any true value in doing what Dirk Dashing was asked to do.

So Tom, if you were in the same predicament as Dirk Dashing then what would you have done? I already know that you wouldn't have drank bourbon and slept with green women, but what would you have done?

The more I think about it though, the more I realize that Dirk Dashing really isn't all that different than Dirk the person. I guess that's why it was so easy for me to write Dirk Dashing. I am Dirk Dashing. I mean, I'm not a spacefaring hero that saves the world from creatures that intend on destroying it, but Dirk's personality is very much my personality. He enjoys a good bourbon. He enjoys the presence of a lovely lady...even if that lady might be green and have tentacles.

We're getting beyond the point though. I am Dirk, and Dirk is me, and we are we, and we are all together....or whatever the Beatles sang. I love Dirk Dashing and the 35th Universe. I love that it has received as much attention as it has. It will probably be the greatest thing that I've ever written.

That being said, I think that you're an incredibly intelligent person Tom. I think that there is so much more to you than the fact that you think that none of this is real and that we are all just figments of your imagination."

This is the most "real" thing I've ever been asked since the accident. I honestly am not sure if I know how to answer it. Anyone that has read these blog posts knows that I believe that none of this is real. I believe that I've been living my life in my subconscious since the accident. It's not just that I believe it. I know it. Everything that's happened is like some kind of sick twisted version of the Matrix. I, for whatever reason, picked the red pill.

Let's take a second to really be introspective about your question though. Let's look at it as if I, Tom, am a fictional character and I live in a world as you described. I don't know man. I've never been much of a gamer. Tom, or fictional me, probably would have never really been much of a gamer either. I mean, I've played some dungeons and dragons, but this feels sooooo much beyond dungeons and dragons. This is a virtual world where, but a real world at the same time.

Maybe Dirk Dashing and I have more in common than I like to admit. I believe that I'm in a false world that is somehow also a real world. It's hard to explain. Chase the white rabbit Neo.

I guess the version of Tom that lives in this world would do his best to do the tasks that are placed in front of him. He would do his best to not focus on the fact that he doesn't think that any of it is real. He would take in what he's been asked to do, and he would do it to the best of his ability.

That in a lot of ways is just how Dirk Dashing did it. He was told to do something and he did it without too much questioning. To some degree that's what I do every day. I don't really regularly have someone telling me to do something, but I do my best to get through the day knowing the things that I know, and knowing that one of these days the veil of reality is going to unwrap around me.

So thank you Dirk. Even though you're not real, because none of this is real, I appreciate being asked questions. I love the idea of a book that asks questions. Dirk Dashing and the 35th Universe so does not ask ANY QUESTIONS, but there is room for questions. I think whenever you get around to writing a sequel that you'll find those questions. Then it'll be a beautiful thing.