Diversity of Setting: the Middle East.

The Middle East is steeped in the fantasy tradition, from Arabian Nights to Farid ud-Din Attar’s The Conference of the Birds. Upon doing research, I found that Middle Eastern writers also produced some of the earliest science fiction writings: the 13th century’s Awaj bin Anfaq, written from the point of view of an alien visiting Earth for the first time; Treaty on the Opinions of the Residents of the Ideal City, a tenth century anti-Utopian narrative; and Ibn al-Nafis’ The Book of Fādil ibn Nātiq, probably the first example of theological science fiction in history.

Here’s a list of a few contemporary novels set in the Middle East, too:

• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed
• The Harem of Aman Akbar, Elizabeth Scarborough
• A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Arabic diaspora — Sudan)
• Between The Rivers, by Harry Turtledove
• Three Princes, Ramona Wheeler (Arabic diaspora — Egypt)
• Dreamblood series, N.K. Jemisin (Arabic diaspora — Egypt)
• Arabian Nights and Days and The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, Naguib Mahfouz
• Creatures of Light and Darkness, Robert Zelazny (Arabic diaspora — Egypt)
• Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson
• The Steel Seraglio, Mike Carey
• The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, Jan Potocki (Arabic diaspora — Spain)
• Mirage, Matt Ruff
• The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Dagger and the Cross, Alamut, and A Wind in Cairo, Judith Tarr