Author Archives: Jonathan David Baird

02/15/18

Dark Maiden Number One is now on Amazon Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Maiden-1-Jonathan-Baird-ebook/dp/B079TFBQXP/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1518693977&sr=8-5&keywords=Dark+Maiden     Going to promote this like crazy this morning. This comic is the first issue of a three issue limited series. The proceeds from this book will go entirely to getting myself and my wife to Battle of the Nations to fight for Team USA in Italy. Here is a link so those who aren't familiar know what Battle of the Nations is... https://www.youtube.com/user/battleofthenations Read more [...]
12/20/17

The Last Jedi Fixes The Force Awakens

The Last Jedi fixes the problems with The Force Awakens and returns it to the hero's journey. While there are parts of The Last Jedi that could and should have been cut out of the movie. The Poe Dameron comedy hour along with the entire Finn and Rose adventure did nothing to advance the plot and needed to be expunged. The movie was also too long. Other than these two problems the movie is not only worthy of the name Star Wars it returns us to the original vision which was the hero's journey. Joseph Read more [...]
09/20/17

Pink America: The United States as a Native American Nation

I have been doing research for several years on the influence of Native American culture and genetics on early frontier European culture. At some point I mean to write a book detailing my research into just how important this influence was on America and how it created a very unique culture from that of the European mainstream.   The most important thing rarely mentioned by historians when writing about American history has to be how deep the influence of Native Americans has been Read more [...]
08/1/17

Cultural Discordance and the Evolution of Chivalry: Western European Conflict as Moral Imperative

The philosophical concepts of Chivalry develop from a mixture of what seem to be essentially two incompatible ethical systems; The Judeo-Christian ethical system and the warrior virtues of the Celtic/German tribal people of Europe. These two systems on the surface do not seem compatible and taken together should mix as well as oil and water. The ideology of Christ and that of the tribal people of Europe are in opposition in almost every way. So how did these two systems come together to form the Read more [...]
12/21/16

An analysis of “At the End of the Mechanical Age” by Donald Barthelme

The story is at its heart a lament for the end of the mechanical age and a critical examination of the superficiality and commercialism that typified that period of history. The story is broken into four parts the first two each contain a separate song. The first song is sung by the protagonist and the second by his companion Mrs. Davis. The second two parts concern the marriage of the protagonist (Tom) and his companion and the last part their eventual divorce. The characters both celebrate the Read more [...]
12/13/16

Where did Generation X go?

This post has nothing to do with speculative fiction. I am just rambling on about something that has been bothering me lately. I can do that, I own the blog. I am solidly a member of Generation X. I was born in 1970 which is in the middle of every estimation of when Generation X started. Yes, there is debate about when Gen X began and ended. I  believe anyone born from 1965-1985 is a member of Generation X. Others give the dates as a little earlier or a little later. Regardless of which way it goes Read more [...]
03/28/16

Convergent Evolution: an Opinion

About a year ago I created this meme during a discussion on a Facebook group about alien life. The group consensus was that we would never meet an alien race with a humanoid posture or upright bipedal locomotion because it was highly unlikely that this arrangement would evolve independently again. Now I am at best a curmudgeon and at worst an asshole, so I got to thinking about that contention and the more I thought about it the less it struck me as a hard and fast rule. Evolution is essentially Read more [...]
12/30/15

Zombie Amalgamation: Origins of the Modern Revenant

The idea of the reanimated corpse shambles along the pages of history, and even before there were written records the undead were with us. The modern iteration of the zombie is not one of these creatures, but it is something new. A revenant fueled on modern fears of infection, and mass hysteria, while birthed from the ancient fear of reanimated corpses. The power of the modern zombie comes from the persistent fear of disease and infection. This infection is then paired with different social, economic, Read more [...]