The Saint Louis Ballet filled the Touhill Performing Arts Center for opening night of Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella, and the magic never let up from the first note.

Well another year has passed, and AXPONA 2026 is in the books. It was another great show by the AXPONA team and the Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. Both the show team and the hotel staff were on top of their game every day in my book.

Death is life’s ultimate mystery. What fate—if any—lies beyond this mortal coil has been the subject of more speculation than any other since humankind’s beginnings.

Well, AXPONA 2026 is in the books, and while I plan to do a recap of the shw in general—which normally would include my thoughts and feelings on the “best in show”—one product I auditioned was so far above the rest, not only in terms of musicality (which it certainly was), but also in form, function, build quality,

Physical media remains the one form of home entertainment you truly own.

To an outsider, the realm of fandom, whether it be for movies, comic books, anime, horror, sci-fi, or television shows, can be a strange landscape to traverse.

Celebrating 30 Years of the Classic Albums SEAL I and SEAL II

The roots of what would eventually become the literary subgenre called cyberpunk can be traced back to writers such as William Gibson and the late Philip K. Dick.

Yes, Yes... YES!!!

We here at Critical Blast love movies, which is a good thing, because 2025 was a spectacular year for cinema.

Dozens of books are reviewed here at Critical Blast each year. Given that the site was founded upon the principle of exposing independently produced genre works to a wider audience, most featured books are of a decidedly science fiction, fantasy, or horror nature.

One day in April 1856, in what is now South Africa, a 15-year-old girl from the native Xhosa tribe named Nongqawuse claimed to have seen the spirits of two of her dead relatives, who told her the Xhosa should destroy all their crops and kill their cattle herds.

Lo, the holidays are upon us once again. Time to deck those halls and hang that mistletoe, pour the egg nog and bake plenty of cookies. In the last century, Christmas has evolved from a religious celebration into a free-for-all capitalist assault on the senses (and the wallet).

It’s easy to imagine esports teams living off giant prize pools and million-dollar sponsorships. But here’s what gets overlooked: money in esports isn’t predictable. Teams have to chase risky opportunities while trying to lock down dependable cash flow.