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?).

John Scalzi is a voluble man. He is the author of several New York Times best sellers and has been nominated for nearly every major award that the science-fiction industry has to offer--some of which he's won multiple times. Over the course of his career, he has written millions of words, filling dozens of books and 27 years' worth of posts on his personal blog. All of this is to say that if one wants to cite Scalzi, there is no shortage of material. But this month, the author noticed something odd: He was being quoted as saying things he'd never said.

John Scalzi is known for his witty science fiction thrillers. Old Man's War and its sequels are his take on military science fiction, while last year's Collapsing Empire was a new foray into space opera. His latest novel Head On is a techno-thriller involving robotic sports leagues and murder, and it's a book that's particularly relevant in our own, technological world. Head On is the sequel to Scalzi's 2014 thriller Lock In and an accompanying novella, Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome. In each, he introduces readers to a world that's experienced a medical catastrophe: a flu pandemic infected and killed millions of people around the world, and left some of the survivors with Haden's Syndrome, a condition that left them "locked in" to their bodies.

Kameron Hurley's science fiction novel The Stars Are Legion almost never saw the inside of a book store. She came up with the idea in 2012, but she and her agent didn't think anyone would buy it. But two years later, Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice swept the major science fiction awards, Guardians of the Galaxy became a surprise box office smash, and Syfy announced plans to make The Expanse into a TV show. Hurley's book soon found a home at Saga Press. "Publishers started snapping up space operas, leading to a huge demand that needed to be filled," she says.

We probably won't know for sure for years, so why not enjoy the present? There are two stories that keep coming to mind when I begin thinking about this show. The first is a classic novelette from 1941 called the Microcosmic God, by Theodore Sturgeon. In it, a scientist engineers live in a laboratory: tiny people called Neoterics. He accelerates their evolution, and messes with their world, killing them off indiscriminately.

The Times has assembled a panel of distinguished and diverse writers who will regularly contribute to the Books section. The 10 authors who make up the Los Angeles Times Cultural Critics At Large have published works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They have won dozens of prizes. A majority have deep connections to Southern California, even though they hail from four different nations. They will help expand the literary conversation, challenging ideas and broadening readers' understanding of literature and culture within the contemporary moment.