Mountains on Fire Այրվող Սարեր is a noir thriller grounded in the historical facts of the Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994). It is set in Nagorno-Karabakh itself as well as Yerevan, 1993-1994, as the war reaches its peak and dark times have descended. Two decorated war heroes, Gregory Yaloyan and Haik Nalbandyan, have been executed for high treason. The various accounts of their collusion with the enemy don't add up to a journalist, who sets about reconstructing their final days by talking with dodgy characters who claim knowledge of the events. Yaloyan passed secret codes to the Azeris. Nalbandyan planted explosives in a children's amusement park and shot up a church. But why? Or did the two soldiers become caught up in a conspiracy orchestrated by a mysterious man with a violin case? The future of the state of Armenia hangs in the balance.
"Aram Yardumian's Mountains on Fire, about the Armenian Azerbaijani war of 1992-94 in Nagorno-Karabakh, is a thriller with a documentary foundation: the author was present in the places of the action and knows his subject well. Yardumian writes fiction with openness and honesty that is rare--intimate details of the war are many, and the novel balances on the verge of non-fiction. It's a story of suspense that American readers will appreciate for the plot and come away with knowledge about these events still largely unknown in the US."
--Ilya Kutik, Poet, Associate Professor, Northwestern University
About the AuthorYardumian, Aram: - Aram Yardumian is a field anthropologist who works in the Caucasus and Caribbean. His other books include Listen (Errant Bodies, 2022), Persepolis (Bloomsbury, 2023), and The Peopling of the Caucasus (Cambridge UP, 2025).
Kruger-Howard, Luke: - "Luke Kruger-Howard is an Ignatz nominated cartoonist living life in the Pacific Northwest raising two human children full-time. His work has popped up in numerous places - stuff like The New Yorker, The Nib, Slate, Best American Comics, the AV Club, Buzzfeed and the like. Some of his comics include Talk Dirty To Me (AdHouse Books) and Our Mother (Retrofit/Big Planet Comics). He has been spending his free time dreaming up new ways that artists might separate their art practices from capitalism."
Romero, David A.: - David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020) and Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024). Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has also performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. His poem, "You Were Born a Tree" was sent to the moon by NASA in 2025 as part of the Lunar Codex. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, Canada, and Hungary. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry. Romero's poetry deals with family, identity, social justice issues, and Latine culture.