Tom Raines asked S.J. Kincaid:

So this has been sitting in the back of my mind since I finished the last book of Insignia, (Allies, even though its a prequel I feel it exists to answer some questions the reader never even realized they had until the read it.) and it has been made me wonder, when you first put the pen to paper on Karl did you intend for him to be eventually good(ish)?

S.J. Kincaid Hi! Well, a big theme of VORTEX is Tom growing up a bit and learning when to pick his battles. His war with Karl really continued because Tom enjoys poking the bear, so to speak, but he's matured enough by the end of that book to understand what Elliot's been trying to tell him. Once Tom had basically defused the problem between them, then that gave me a little more liberty to flesh out another side of Karl for book three... Even if for a few scenes. :-)

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