Actually, speculative science fiction has been a long time tradition within the ME. It's just not the same science fiction we're used to as Westerners. Granted, in recent decades, there's been a tighter grip on what can and can't be written. Regardless of that issue, you'll find most older works of ME sci-fi to be folktale-esque in nature with some other stuff thrown in for good measure. For the most part, most modern ME literature revolves around historical fiction which is really popular, or so I've read, and literary fiction. If you're looking for dystopian sci-fi, then yeah, you'll be disappointed. It's going to be more fantasy than pure, hardcore sci-fi like we're used to. That said, and I know this might piss some off, but religious text initself is considered speculative science fiction from a literary standpoint. So what's in the bible, the torah or the quoran are probably what you'll see in ME sci-fi with some scientific twist to it, nudging it over to fantasy. However, dystopian sci-fi is a growing trend there.
@ucfgrad93 Interesting Roman fiction novel up there. I checked it out yesterday after I thanked your post and found the series to be interesting. I've booked-marked to purchase later. They say never judge a book by its cover. Sadly, I did, and then I read the synopsis. I think I'll enjoy it. I might actually order them in paperback if not hardback and not Kindle. I've been buying both paperback or hardback alongside Kindle as of late. I figured the kids might read it when they're older.
