long bio
K. M. Fajardo is a second-generation Filipino-Canadian speculative fiction writer from Ontario, Canada. She graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Global Business and Digital Arts before working in tech. Her debut novel, Local Heavens, a queer cyberpunk reimagining of The Great Gatsby, has been featured in outlets like The New York Times, ELLE Magazine and CBC Books, nominated for the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards for science fiction, and longlisted for the BSFA Awards for Best Novel. After a childhood spent roaming bookstores, she now lives and writes full-time in Toronto with her rescue cat, Clementine. Find her online at kmfajardo.com.
short bio
K. M. Fajardo is a Filipino-Canadian speculative fiction writer based in Toronto. She studied Global Business and Digital Arts at the University of Waterloo. Her debut novel, Local Heavens, was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards and longlisted for the BSFA Awards. Find her online at kmfajardo.com.
US Jacket Copy
A corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.
New York City, 2075. Filipino-American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas, where he’s struck by the city’s contradictions—shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class.
When Nick meets alluring new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby’s frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren’t all they seem—and as a corporate- sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows that no secret can stay buried forever. He’s the reason they don’t. And his latest assignment? Investigate Gatsby himself.
As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite—and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city’s most vulnerable—he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes precedence: Love, or truth? Heart, or soul?
A brilliant reimagining of Fitzgerald’s classic tale of glamour, desire, and desperation, Local Heavens examines the guardrails of morality… and the price of desire.
UK Jacket copy
A speculative romance reimagining of The Great Gatsby set in 2075 New York, perfect for fans of Emily St John Mandel, Natasha Pulley’s The Mars House and Chain-Gang All-Stars.
‘Not just a cyberpunk reinvention of The Great Gatsby, but a singular revelation in its own right’ OLIVIE BLAKE
‘Luring us in with glitz and glamour, neon and chrome … A stunning retelling of The Great Gatsby‘ K. M. ENRIGHT
A corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.
New York City, 2075. Filipino-American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas, where he’s struck by the city’s contradictions – shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class.
When Nick meets alluring new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby’s frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren’t all they seem – and as a corporate-sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows that no secret can stay buried forever. He’s the reason they don’t. And his latest assignment? Investigate Gatsby himself.
As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite – and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city’s most vulnerable – he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes Love, or truth? Heart, or soul?
A brilliant reimagining of Fitzgerald’s classic tale of glamour, desire, and desperation, Local Heavens examines the guardrails of morality … and the price of desire.
‘Local Heavens pierces to the core of an American classic’ CHLOE GONG
‘Beautiful, intelligent, timely … A phenomenal new talent’ ESMIE JIKIEMI-PEARSON
K. M. Fajardo 