Joe Kassabian on “The Highlands Burn”

Fantasy is a genre often dominated by the pseudo-Medieval that rarely looks outside of a narrow European world. But Joe Kassabian, a Michigan-born, U.S. Army veteran turned Armenian citizen, is changing that. His forthcoming novel, “The Highlands Burn,” is a "gunpowder fantasy" set on the sharp edges of a fictitious but easily identified Armenian highland. I sat down with Kassabian to discuss his fight to keep his real surname when he first started writing, why his Armenian fantasy novel has no Turks as villains and how living in Armenia taught him that generosity and distrust are two sides of the Armenian coin. This interview has been edited for clarity. Nevdon Jamgochian: Joe, for readers who might not be familiar with you or the "gunpowder fantasy" genre, can you set the stage? Joe Kassabian: Sure. I’m originally from Michigan; I was not really raised Armenian. I served in the U.S. Army for a while and wrote a nonfiction book about Afghanistan called “Hooligans of Kandahar,” then got into sci-fi. But I kept getting odd notes from publishers. First, they wanted me to use a pen name because my surname would be "hard for people to pronounce." Later, when I started putting Armenian names like "Artak" into my stories, editors asked if I would consider changing those, too. Jamgochian: That’s infuriating, but not surprising. Kassabian: It got annoying. I have been a fantasy fan since “The Lord of the Rings,” and I realized all this stuff is British. It is the same cultures over and over. I never felt "different" until after 9/11, when suddenly people looked at my name and that made me a terrorist. That confusion made me wonder why there is so little Armenian media, given our history. After 10 years of writing, I built up enough of a brand to do what I wanted. I got a master’s degree in Genocide Studies, moved to Armenia in 2020 (just for a conference — I ended up staying because I loved it), and became a citizen. I got burned out on sci-fi and said I want to write fantasy, but not British fantasy. I wanted it to reflect Armenia. Jamgochian: I want to touch on that shift in American perception. There was a time — Michael Arlen, William Saroyan, the character Bagradian in the film “Stalag 17,” even a “Mannix” TV episode in 1968 with a Western Armenian-language segment — when Armenians were part of the Western narrative. Then suddenly, we became "others." What happened? Kassabian: American racial politics are strange. When the Irish and Italians arrived, they were considered barely above slaves. Armenians were called "Asiatic Jews" or "Fresno Indians." It ebbs and flows. As the U.S. became involved in the Middle East in the 1970s, anyone connected to those regions was lumped together. Try explaining the difference between a Persian and an Armenian to an average American. You cannot. Jamgochian: Peter Balakian writes about that in “Black Dog of Fate” — his family was accepted, but his father’s Persian Christian friends were not. I am curious about why it no longer does. I think your book, “The Burning Highlands,” is a step in the right direction. Aside from place names in the protagonist’s name, Sayat (a character loosely based on Soghomon Tehlirian), what in the book is culturally Armenian? Kassabian: I wanted readers to feel like they stepped into an Armenian village the way I did when I moved there: the smells, the sounds, the houses, the villagers’ practices. The traditions do not have to be identical — they just have to rhyme. The religion in the book is based on the old Armenian pantheon. The clothes, the designs. I wanted it to feel authentic, but not like a museum. Jamgochian: Are you writing for Armenians or for non-Armenians? Kassabian: Both. I think Armenian readers will find Easter eggs that non-Armenians won’t. For example, when reading Arkady Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire,” if you know Ottoman history, you see where she drew from. If you don’t, it is still a great book. The same applies here. Last week, the television show, “The Pitt” had one Armenian line, and we all lost our minds. I hope this book creates that feeling. But if you are not Armenian, it won’t hurt your reading experience. Jamgochian: You have also included negative aspects of Armenian culture (e.g. betrayers, infighting). Kassabian: Absolutely; this is not propaganda. The main betrayers in my book are Armenian. I didn’t want a point-for-point genocide retelling with Ottoman villains. I wanted to show what happens after the killings — the infighting of the First Republic. We killed each other over politics, nationalism and religion. Jamgochian: That’s striking. You also don’t center Turks as villains at all. Kassabian: I didn’t want to. We were around before the Ottoman Empire. We will be around after. Why can’t we make art that has nothing to do with them? We are much more than that 30-year window. Jamgochian: You also capture that strange Armenian duality: total generosity and distrust at the same time. Kassabian: That’s the fundamental experience of living in Armenia. During the 2020 war, we were sending socks and cigarettes to the front while yelling at each other over everything. My Armenian friend told me that in the 1990s, if you had two pieces of bread and your neighbor had none, you gave them one. But also: “Don’t trust those people 10 minutes north.” I wanted that in the book. Jamgochian: One last thing: is this a book for non-military or non-fantasy readers? Kassabian: Yes. It’s gunpowder fantasy, but it’s not exclusionary. I don’t even read much military fiction myself; it’s often propagandistic. I’m anti-war from my own experience. I didn’t want to write that. There’s something in it for everyone. Jamgochian: This is your 10th book, right? Kassabian: Yeah, this will be No. 10. Jamgochian: Phenomenal. Joe, thank you. The Highlands Burn (The Foundling Brigade Saga Book 1) is available for preorder on Amazon and will be released on May 29, 2026.

Joe Kassabian on “The Highlands Burn”

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