It is an unusual thing to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair
of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian
London they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon this means
long hours in the dark basement workshop working his taxidermical art. Gregor?s business is
exotic plants ? lucrative but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition a strange fungus
which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he?s seen inspires him to attempt a
masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter. Driven by the glory he?ll earn from the
Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that
intelligence cannot be controlled that plants cannot be reasoned with and that the only way
his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.
