2009 Science Fiction Hall of Famers named

Seattle's Science Fiction Museum has named the 2009 Hall of Fame Inductees: editor and publisher Edward L. Ferman, artist Michael Whelan, artist Frank R. Paul, and author Connie Willis. The induction ceremony will be 8 p.m., Sat., June 27. Save the date. Tickets are not yet on sale. A party for the kick off of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and the Locus Awards Banquet and Ceremony also take place in Seattle that weekend. See more about those events here.

Here's a little about this year's Hall of Famers, with more details at the Hall of Fame:

• Edward L. Ferman edited The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for 25 years and published the early work of authors including Dean Koontz, James Tiptree, Jr., John Varley, and Karen Fowler.

• Michael Whelan has illustrated works by authors such as Stephen King and Isaac Asimov and including Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels. He is the first living artist to be inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

• Frank R. Paul created all the covers and illustrations for Amazing Stories in its first years, 1926-1929, and was guest of honor at the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, the year he painted the cover of Marvel Comics #1. You can see Paul's Amazing and Science Wonder Stories covers here, as archived by fellow artist Frank Wu.

• Connie Willis is the award-winning author of Doomsday Book (1992), Bellwether (1996), To Say Nothing of the Dog (1997), Passage (2001) and All Seated on the Ground (2007). Heralded by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the World Science Fiction Society, Willis has won Hugo and Nebula awards in all fiction categories.

The Hall of Fame, established in 1996, honors the lives, works, and legacies of science fiction's greatest creators. Each year four individuals are chosen for the honor based on their contributions to the field. Including the new inductees, the Hall of Fame now honors 57 of science fiction's greats from Brian W. Aldiss to Donald Allen Wollhiem. Last year's inductees were Betty and Ian Ballantine, William Gibson, Richard M. Powers, and Rod Serling.

Rumor has it, this year's ceremony will be hosted by Christopher Moore author of Fool.