Excellent call-out on Barnes; he's one of the most under-rated authors out there.

If you haven't read his stuff, pick it up.

I think the only novel of his I read was Finity, and that kind of turned me off.

Not all of his work is great, but the "Thousand Cultures" series and "Century Next Door" series are the great reads.

Note: The dark anti-hero in "Kaleidoscope Century" is probably the reason he hasn't won many major awards. You can't write such a character and not piss off the various sci-fi author and fandom cliches.

Agreed. Barnes can go dark - REALLY dark.

The Directive 51 universe is really dark, but has a ton of great ideas and great writing.

Thank you, I'll check them out