Scratch Magazine
Ideas don't always become novels. Sometimes they become essays, reviews, observations, conversations, or simply stories worth sharing.
Scratch Magazine is the editorial home of Scratch Writing—a collection of articles exploring storytelling, hidden history, emerging technology, films, humor, and the creative process. Whether you're interested in the lore behind The Midas Files, the future of artificial intelligence, a great movie recommendation, or a laugh at the day's absurdities, there's always something new to discover.
Explore the channels, follow your curiosity, and enjoy the journey.
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- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: The Funny Newz
BOULDER, COLORADO — Cliff Epperson, a help desk support specialist at Hewlett-Packard, says he is considering legal action after deciding to become a millionaire and then somehow not becoming one.
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- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: Cool Filmz
Some thrillers begin with a premise so strange that you cannot help but lean in. The Accident, a Mexican thriller-drama series on Netflix, certainly has one of those premises.
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- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: The Funny Newz
SEAFORD, DELAWARE — In a shocking turn of events that has inspired dozens of local residents to briefly reconsider their life choices, Ben Haseltine, a retired nurse who spent decades caring for others at Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, has reportedly discovered the long-rumored Key to Success.
Read more: Funny Newz: Man Finds The Key To Success At Garage Sale
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- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: Cool Filmz
Sometimes you turn on an old movie expecting a comfortable nostalgia watch, only to remember that the movie is not merely good.
It is great.
Read more: Cool Filmz: Terminator 2: Judgment Day — An Action Sci-Fi Ace
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- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: Bingham's Notebook
Creating a fictional world is one of the most thrilling parts of writing a novel. It allows a writer to construct places, societies, secret histories, and hidden ecosystems that never existed — but still need to feel real enough for readers to believe in them.
Read more: Bingham's Notebook: Building the Caves of Baghdad
- Details
- Written by: Matt DeReno
- Category: The Funny Newz
PEYOTE, ARIZONA — In a bizarre twist of fate, extreme sports enthusiast Wayne “Goose” Peterson, 25, of Chicago, says he was paragliding over the Arizona desert when he spotted what he initially believed to be oversized AirPods screaming across the sky at impossible speeds.
Read more: The Funny Newz: Space SUVs Here - 2024 "Abductors" Sighted
- CoolFilmz: Atlas (2024) Review — A Queen With a Side of Sci-Fi Cheese
- Bingham's Notebook: Time Travel in The Midas Files — The Foggy Room Theory
- The Funny Newz: Could the Pogo Stick Be The Answer To The World's Transportation Energy Needs?
- The Cool Filmz: Recently Added On Netflix Review - Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Subcategories
The Scratching Post
The Scratching Post is Matt De Reno’s personal corner of Scratch Magazine, featuring author updates, creative reflections, Pittsburgh-rooted storytelling, house-project avoidance, writing life, book news, and friendly notes from the world behind The Midas Files.
Bingham's Notebook
Bingham’s Notebook explores the lore, characters, artifacts, hidden history, timelines, and behind-the-scenes mythology of The Midas Files, Matt De Reno’s Pittsburgh-rooted sci-fi thriller series about ancient power, impossible technology, and dangerous secrets.
Cool Filmz
Cool Filmz is Scratch Magazine’s movie and TV room, featuring essays, reviews, lookbacks, and story-minded reflections on sci-fi, thrillers, action classics, pop culture, character arcs, genre storytelling, and the films that shaped Matt De Reno’s imagination.
The Funny Newz
The Funny Newz is Scratch Magazine’s humor section, featuring fake headlines, sci-fi satire, UFO nonsense, cryptid chaos, ancient-alien absurdity, local parody, bad technology, and ridiculous reports from a universe that probably should not be trusted with advanced tools.
TechGnosis
TechGnosis explores strange science, future technology, space, AI, cybersecurity, fragile systems, hidden knowledge, and real-world ideas that sound like they escaped from a sci-fi thriller — all through the curious lens of Scratch Magazine.
