A touch of biopunk, a smattering of body horror, and a whole lot of mystery, this book is my love letter to all of the sci-fi/adventure stories I grew up with. It’s a chance for us to spend time with those complicated, weird, monstrous characters that maybe weren't all bad. Gardener is set centuries after a corporation’s failed attempt at colonizing a desert planet. The employees they abandoned have gone to great lengths to survive, with autonomous robots, creatures, and former humans all trying to find their place on an alien planet. We follow Lars, an ex-Junker, hired by an ancient robot, The Disciple, to investigate the emergence of a strange plague that threatens to destroy all remaining life. But as the mystery unfurls, we find that there’s more to Lars than the battered robot lets on.