So why did he dream the other night--and dream that he has a son?At one time, Batou had a human love for his partner, the legendary Major, before he witnessed her transfiguration into something beyond humanity. Now he has only his job, and his beloved basset hound, Gabriel. But when Batou has a near-death experience in an arranged car "accident," he returns home to find Gabriel has gone missing--perhaps, to go look for her owner's lost soul.Batou's desperate search for Gabriel leads him down surreal streets where homeless men fight tanks and yakuza racing hounds chase rabbits downloaded into their heads. Batou fears his poor dog has made a horrible mistake out of innocence--for Batou has taken a cold look inside himself...and decided that he never truly had a soul...Innocence, After The Long Goodbye is the prequel to the Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence film, also available as a four-volume Ani-Manga box set from VIZ Media. The Innocence novel contains a special bonus discussion between the director, Mamoru Oshii, and the author, Masaki Yamada.

    The year is 2032. Somewhere in a sprawling East Asian metropolis, blood is on the ground--human blood, spilled in the latest baffling set of murder-suicides committed by "gynoids," or robotic companions. Now it's up to Section 9 agent Batou to unravel the mystery, which weaves into the fate of his legendary partner, the Major. Batou was the only witness to Major's disappearance into the Net and has become as compelled by her image, as by the unknown hacker attempting to seize what remains of his own humanity...

    Need a stitch in time? Call INDIGO PRIME! This elite troubleshooting organization cleans up the mess left by time travelers, meddlers and monsters for a price! Operating scores of agents divided into Seamsters (who repair time breaches), Sceneshifters (who repair space), and Imagineers (who deal with the things that are too weird for everyone else), Indigo Prime is the only agency holding the multiverse together!

    He is both an artist and a phenomenon, using his body as medium and exhibition space. Working in the interface between the body and the machine, employing virtual reality, robotics, medical instruments, prosthetics, and the Internet, Stelarc's art includes physical acts that don't always look survivable - or, as science fiction novelist William Gibson puts it in his foreword, sometimes seem to include the possibility of terminality. Stelarc's projects include Third Hand, a manipulable robotic arm attached to the artist and activated by EMG from other body areas or tele-operated by others; Amplified Body, the artist's amplified brainwaves, muscles, pulse, and blood flow; and Stomach Sculptures, devices--or aesthetic adornments - placed in the artist's stomach and presented through video.