This week marks the end of our two week hiatus and the return of the Seattle Geekly podcast. July is going to be all about women in geekdom and this Thursday we’ll have interviews with authors Adrian Phoenix, Marjorie M. Liu, Jennifer Brozek, Seanan McGuire and Mira Grant (*wink, wink*). Stay tuned for shows later this month with women comic creators and women geek musicians!

Another podcast is also celebrating it’s return this month. We discovered James Durham’s podcast audio drama FETIDUS not long after we started doing our podcast and have been huge fans ever since. We were dismayed when it seemed like James had stopped releasing new episodes but much to our relief he has not vanished from the internet. Here is word from the man himself;

It is time!

FETIDUS is relaunching under the cover of the smoldering, humid night of July 9th, 2010. I’m thrilled to bring you FETIDUS: The Damned Heir, starting with a revised Episode 1, with one episode every week, until the grand finale.

Yes, FETIDUS is back. All the episodes have been recorded, even the finale.

Join us from the beginning. Starting July 9th, 2010, every Friday is FETIDUS Day until the thrilling conclusion. Begin with Episode 1, bring your friends, and join Art Blanchard in the fetid back streets of post-apocalyptic Washington DC at FETIDUS.org.

If you hadn’t been listening to FETIDUS previously, this is the perfect opportunity to start. You can also hear our interview with James back in Episode #12 of our podcast.

Your Monday News is under the fold

Boardgames

• Avalon Hill’s Betrayal at House on the Hill has been one of our favorite games since it’s release and we have never hesitated to recommend it in spite of the fact that it has been out of print for years. We mentioned briefly the announcement that it was coming back in to print and now it finally has an official release date. The game will be back in stores October 5, just in time for Halloween! The new version of the game will include an updated haunt book with eight new haunts – some of which feature a new “hidden traitor” game mechanic, several new items, completely redsigned game play tokens, and new artwork.

Comics

• The announcement that Marvel Comics had acquired the rights to Marvelman (previously known as Miracleman in the U.S. when the rights were not owned by Marvel) was one of the biggest pieces of news to come out of last year’s San Diego ComiCon. Since then there have been rumors but not much activity with either republishing the old stories or creating new ones. The good news is that finally, just this month, the first issue of “Marvelman Family’s Finest” will be hitting stands. The bad news that this ISN’T going to be reprints of what everyone wanted to see, the Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman stories from the 1980s. Instead this will be a chronological reprinting of the ORIGINAL Marvelman stories written by Mick Anglo in the 1950s. One can only hope that reprints of the Moore/Gaiman stories will be forthcoming.

• Nominations for this year’s Harvey Awards have been announced. Nominees include
  • BEST WRITER
    • Jason Aaron, “SCALPED”, Vertigo/DC Comics
    • Geoff Johns, “BLACKEST NIGHT”, DC Comics
    • Robert Kirkman, “THE WALKING DEAD”, Image Comics
    • Jeff Kinney, “DIARY OF A WIMPY KID #3: THE LAST STRAW”, Amulet Books
    • Mark Waid, “IRREDEEMABLE”, BOOM! Studios
  • BEST ARTIST
    • Robert Crumb, “BOOK OF GENESIS”, W.W. Norton
    • Guy Davis, “BPRD: BLACK GODDESS”, Dark Horse Comics
    • Brian Fies, “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE WORLD OF TOMORROW?”, Abrams ComicArts
    • David Petersen, “MOUSE GUARD : WINTER 1152″, Archaia Studios Press
    • Frank Quitely, “BATMAN AND ROBIN”, DC Comics
    • JH Williams III, “DETECTIVE COMICS”, DC Comics
  • BEST NEW TALENT
    • Kevin Cannon, “FAR ARDEN”, Top Shelf
    • Rob Guillory, “CHEW”, Image Comics
    • Reinhard Kleist,”JOHNNY CASH: I SEE A DARKNESS”, Abrams ComicArts
    • Nathan Schreiber, “ACT-I-VATE: POWER OUT”, http://act-i-vate.com
    • Matthew Weldon, “NEW BRIGHTON ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY”, Image Comics
  • BEST NEW SERIES
    • “BATMAN AND ROBIN”, DC Comics
    • “CHEW”, Image Comics
    • “IRREDEEMABLE”, BOOM! Studios
    • “SWEET TOOTH”, Vertigo/DC Comics
    • “UNWRITTEN”, Vertigo/DC Comics
  • BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
    • “BEASTS OF BURDEN”, Dark Horse Comics
    • “DIARY OF A WIMPY KID”, Amulet Books
    • “GANGES”, Fantagraphics Books
    • “INVINCIBLE”, Image Comics
    • “SCALPED”, Vertigo/DC Comics
    • “THE WALKING DEAD”, Image Comics
  • BEST ON-LINE COMICS WORK
    • “HARK! A VAGRANT”, by Kate Beaton, http://harkavagrant.com
    • “HIGH MOON”, by Steve Ellis, David Gallaher and Scott O. Brown, http://www.zudacomics.com/high_moon
    • “POWER OUT”, by Nathan Schreiber, http://act-i-vate.com
    • “PVP”, by Scott Kurtz, http://www.pvponline.com
    • “SIN TITULO”, by Cameron Stewart, http://www.sintitulocomic.com

  The complete list of nominees is available at Bleeding Cool

Internet

• Season 4 of The Guild starts tomorrow! The season 4 trailer is below. Enjoy!
  

MMO

• Those who have been eagerly anticipating the release of Bioware’s MMORPG Star War the Old Republic will be delighted to hear that beta testing of the game started this weekend. ToR was announced in 2008 and Bioware started accepting beta applications in 2009 so this has been a long time coming. Coinciding with the start of beta testing is an interview by CVG with Old Republic lead writer Daniel Erickson who says, among other things, that The Old Republic is the “dream game” for Bioware fans, especially fans of its Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. I, for one, am waiting impatiently.

• In other MMO beta news, Shannon was selected to play in the World of Warcraft Cataclysm beta. She will be keeping those of use who were not so fortunate updated on the chages and new content she encounters right here on Seattle-Geekly.com. The first of these updates is up now.

TV

• The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 62nd annual Emmy Awards. Nominations relevant to the geek set include;
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold
    • Music Composition for a Series, Original Dramatic Score (Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter, Michael Jelenic, and James Tucker for “Mayhem of the Music Meister)
  • The Big Bang Theory
    • Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series (“The Gothowitz Deviation” and “The Adhesive Duck Deficiency”)
    • Makeup for a Multi-Camera Series or Special, Non-Prosthetic (“The Electric Can Opener Fluctuation”)
    • Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper)
    • Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (Christine Baranski as Beverly Hofstadter in “The Maternal Congruence”)
    • Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series (“The Adhesive Duck Deficiency”)
  • Caprica
    • Special Visual Effects for a Series (“There is Another Sky”)
  • Chuck
    • Stunt Coordination (Merritt Yohnka for “Chuck vs. the Tic Tac”)
  • FlashForward
    • Cinematography for a One Hour Series (“No More Good Days”)
    • Music Composition for a Series, Original Dramatic Score (Ramin Djawadi for “No More Good Days”)
    • Stunt Coordination (Danny Weselis for “No More Good Days”)
  • Fringe
    • Sound Editing for a Series (“White Tulip”)
  • Heroes
    • Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (“Brave New World”)
  • Lost
    • Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (“Ab Aeterno”)
    • Directing for a Drama Series (Jack Bender for “The End”)
    • Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series (Stephen Semel, Mark J. Goldman, Christopher Nelson, and Henk Van Eeghan for “The End”)
    • Music Composition for a Series, Original Dramatic Score (Michael Giacchino for “The End”)
    • Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard)
    • Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Terry O’Quinn as John Locke)
    • Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Michael Emerson as Ben Linus)
    • Guest Actress in a Drama Series (Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke in “The End”)
    • Drama Series
    • Sound Editing for a Series (“The End”)
    • Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, One Hour (“The End”)
    • Writing for a Drama Series (Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for “The End”)
  • The Prisoner
    • Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie (“Checkmate”)
    • Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Ian McKellen as Two)
  • Robot Chicken
    • Voice-Over Performance (Seth Green as various characters in “Cannot Be Erased, So Sorry”)
    • Short-format Animated Program (“Full-Assed Christmas Special”)
  • Star Wars: Uncut
    • Creative Achievement in Interactive Media—Fiction
  • Stargate Universe
    • Special Visual Effects for a Series (“Air”)
    • Special Visual Effects for a Series (“Space”)
  • True Blood
    • Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series (“Never Let Me Go”, “I Will Rise Up”, and “Frenzy”)
    • Casting for a Drama Series
    • Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special (“Scratches”)
    • Drama Series
    • Sound Editing for a Series (“Beyond Here Lies Nothin’”)
  • V
    • Special Visual Effects for a Series (“Pilot”)
  • Warehouse 13
    • Original Main Title Theme Music (Edward Rogers)