In Mason Coile's Exiles, a human crew arrive on Mars There are some sci-fi heavy hitters with new novels out this month, from Cixin Liu and Stephen Baxter to John Scalzi. I'm keen to check out Ian McEwan's venture to a flooded version of 2119 – a drowned-world trope also taken up by Yume Kitasei in the intriguing-sounding Saltcrop. The late Mason Coile's tale of disaster in a new Martian colony, Exiles, is also tempting me, as is more time travelling noir from the excellent Nicholas Binge. Come read along with us and see how it compares to the best of today's science fiction. The literary writer turns to science fiction – and not for the first time (who read 2010's Solar?).

The world may end up breaking into tech alliances as a guiding political issue in the years to come, according to a retired American serviceman-turned-novelist as detailed in his new book. "I think for us, particularly with regards to the technology that we're imagining and the incredible power it unleashes, it just becomes obvious that the real source of national power might not be military or even economic, but could quickly become technological power," Elliot Ackerman told Fox News Digital. "Whoever gets there first is going to so stratospherically outpace their rivals that they'll be able to dominate as a nation," he said. Ackerman served in the U.S. Marine Corps for eight years, working as both an infantry and special operations officer with tours in the Middle East and Central Asia. Following the conclusion of his service, he pursued a career as a novelist, drawing on his experience to write acclaimed fiction.

FIRST ON FOX: While the fast-evolving technology of artificial intelligence may be taking many authors today by surprise, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr is well ahead of the game, as is par for the course for this former Navy SEAL. In a phone interview ahead of the publication of his highly anticipated new novel, "Only the Dead" -- on sale on Tuesday, May 16 -- Carr told Fox News Digital of AI, "In the national security space it will be and probably is being used extensively." He said, "The question now isn't'could we' or'should we,' as AI is already here. The question now is about management of AI across industry. My hope is that AI can be used for the betterment of society -- but as I learned in the SEAL Teams, hope is not a course of action."

A former electronics whiz kid, he has squandered his youth on dilettantish studies in physics and anthropology, followed by a series of botched get-rich-quick schemes. His parents are dead, his friends (if they exist) go unmentioned, and his employment consists of forex trading on an old laptop in his two-room apartment. He seems to leave home only to buy chocolate at a local newsstand or, once, after noticing a pain in his foot, to have an ingrown toenail removed, an apt literalization of his enervating self-involvement. Perhaps out of some desire for correction, Charlie sells his mother's house to finance the purchase of Adam, one of twenty-five cutting-edge androids built to serve as an "intellectual sparring partner, friend and factotum." The impulsive slacker is all too ready to exchange his birthright for a mess of wattage.

Humanity no longer needs God but may with the help of artificial intelligence develop a new form of collective consciousness that fulfills the role of religion, author Dan Brown has said. Brown made the provocative remark on Thursday at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany where he was promoting his new novel, 'Origin', the fifth outing for Harvard'symbology' professor Robert Langdon. Landon was also the protagonist of Brown's novel'The Da Vinci Code', a book that questioned the history of Christianity. 'Origin' was inspired by the question'Will God survive science?', said Brown, adding that this had never happened in the history of humanity. 'Are we naive today to believe that the gods of the present will survive and be here in a hundred years?' Brown, 53, told a packed news conference.

Seated on the patio of Mission Heirloom in the Gourmet Ghetto, Mason, 42, still jetlagged from his return from a writers' retreat in Tuscany, relents a bit when pressed for elaboration. "I hate describing it," he says. "But when forced, I say it's a combination between Mrs. Dalloway and Neuromancer ." That's an elevator pitch that actually says something meaningful. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux on April 11, Void Star follows three disparate characters as they navigate a Future world altered by climate change, social inequality, longevity extension, digital brain implants and the machinations of incredibly powerful artificial intelligences.