The Midas Protocol
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- The Midas Files
In 1983, brilliant Unalco researcher Dr. Lawrence Bingham and his wife are murdered, and Bingham’s greatest...
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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- Category: Bingham's Notebook
Addison’s viewpoint complicates the romance. She admires Hank’s looks, professional promise, humor, and willingness to defend Danielle. She also treats his apartment and habits as things she might improve. Her attraction carries an expectation that he will change to suit her, a useful tension beneath the playful exchanges.
- Hits: 73
Read more: Chapter Sketch: Hank and Addison in The Midas Protocol - Chapter 7 - "Hanks Apartment"
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- Category: Bingham's Notebook
Rodney Pierpont Barons, Jack desperately wants to escape his father’s shadow—even as he inherits much of Rod’s aggression, entitlement and instinct for power. His ingenious manipulation of Unalco’s finances quickly attracts Connor Wallrose, who recognizes that Jack’s creative accounting could conceal enormous losses while preserving the appearance of corporate success. For Jack, Connor offers the influence and approval his father never did.
- Hits: 48
Read more: Character Sketch: Jack Barons In The Midas Protocol
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- Category: Bingham's Notebook
At 2:37 a.m. on January 1, 1990, Hank Raglan welcomes Addison Moore into his Ben Avon apartment. After the Rosebud brawl, the warmth offers refuge; the dirty laundry, battered furniture, and improvised shelving offer a less flattering introduction to Hank’s private life. Addison is appalled and attracted in almost the same breath. His defense of Danielle has strengthened her interest, even as his housekeeping tests it.
- Hits: 44
Read more: Chapter Profile: Midas Protocol - Chapter 7 - "Hank's Apartment"
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- Category: The Scratching Post
My editor Dean recently finished reading The Midas Protocol. He did much of the heavy lifting on Call of the Minotaur, and I had assumed he had read the first book years ago. Apparently, he had not. His reaction was interesting: compared with Call of the Minotaur, The Midas Protocol almost reads like a prequel.
- Hits: 83
Read more: The Scratching Post: The Midas Protocol – Dare I Rewrite the Past?
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- Category: Quantum Soup
Every once in a while, physics wanders into a room, turns off the lights, lights one candle, and says something that sounds completely insane. Here is one of those ideas:
What if every electron in the universe is actually the same electron?
- Hits: 82
Read more: Quantum Soup: What If There Is Only One Electron?
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- Category: Bingham's Notebook
When Danielle confronts him, the argument becomes violent. Jack strikes her in full view of the party. Hank immediately answers with a punch of his own, and Jack’s attempt to retaliate ignites a sprawling club-wide brawl. The sequence moves from ugly domestic cruelty to farce and pandemonium: overturned food, flying chairs, shattered glasses, accidental punches, and a charge through a flimsy wall into the men’s room.
- Hits: 120
Read more: Chapter Profile: Midas Protocol - Chapter 6 - "Rosebud"
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- Category: The Scratching Post
Labor Day always feels a little bittersweet to me. Around Western Pennsylvania, it is the unofficial last call for summer — one more long weekend to fire up the grill, sit outside with friends, crack open a beer and pretend we are not already noticing that the evenings are getting shorter. Today, I plan to do exactly that.
- Hits: 385
Read more: The Scratching Post: The Polish Prophet’s Salsa and the Last Taste of Summer
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.
Quantum Soup
Quantum Soup 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.