The Midas Protocol: Midas Files Book One

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: The Midas Files

Published: January 2, 2023

Hank Raglan is a gifted young materials engineer whose career at Unalco begins to accelerate faster than he ever imagined. Under the mentorship of Tony Laporte, Unalco’s brilliant but increasingly fragile CEO, Hank is pulled into a world of corporate rivalry, buried research, and impossible technology.

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The Scratching Post: A New Direction for Scratch Writing

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: The Scratching Post

Published: July 2, 2026

I’m excited to share a new direction for Scratch Writing. For a long time, this site carried a little bit of everything: client work, business updates, blog experiments, side projects, fiction news, and the occasional idea that probably made sense to me at the time.

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The Scratching Post: A New Job Marks a New Phase for Scratch Writing

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: The Scratching Post

Published: April 1, 2025

I’ve had some big, exciting changes on the work front—drumroll, please—I’ve joined General Dynamics Mission Systems as a documentation specialist.

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Bingham's Notebook: The History of The Majestic 12 (MJ-12)

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Bingham's Notebook

Published: January 7, 2025

What connects alien cover-ups, classified government secrets, Cold War paranoia, and decades of UFO conspiracy theories? For many UFO enthusiasts, the answer is Majestic 12, often shortened to MJ-12.

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Bingham's Notebook: Inventing The Order Of The Crescent Star

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Bingham's Notebook

Published: December 18, 2024

Welcome back to Bingham’s Notebook, where we explore the hidden corners of the world surrounding The Midas Files.

This week, we’re looking at a shadowy organization that may help explain some of the more esoteric aspects of Dr. Lawrence Bingham’s research: the Order of the Crescent Star.

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Bingham's Notebook: Mortimer Vanterpool’s Powers Explained

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Bingham's Notebook

Published: November 13, 2024

Welcome back to Bingham’s Notebook, where we explore the hidden corners of The Midas Files.

For this entry, I wanted to take a closer look at Mortimer Vanterpool, one of the strangest and most dangerous figures in The Midas Protocol. This may not be the flashiest topic for longtime readers, but clarifying Vanterpool’s abilities helps me understand how he works as a character — and how best to use him as the series continues.

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Bingham's Notebook: Borrowing From History — How Real Political Figures Shape Fictional Characters

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Bingham's Notebook

Published: November 6, 2024

As I worked through the world of The Midas Files, I found myself creating characters whose traits sometimes echoed real political figures. Not direct copies. Not hidden biographies. More like creative composites — fictional people shaped by recognizable fragments of history, personality, ideology, and public image.

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Cool Filmz: I am watching Star Wars in Machete Order and It Changes Everything

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Cool Filmz

Published: January 24, 2025

I still remember sitting in a dark movie theater in the summer of 1977, clutching my popcorn as the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” appeared on the screen.

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Cool Filmz: Did Obi Wan Use the Jedi Mind Trick on Han Solo in A New Hope?

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Written by: Matt DeReno

Category: Cool Filmz

Published: January 22, 2025

Rewatching the Star Wars saga can be a revelation. When you revisit these movies, especially in something like Machete Order, you start noticing details that may have slipped past you the first — or tenth — time.

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