 Many of their novels deal with themes such as the Cold War, space travel, and space opera.Barton also has written short stories that put an emphasis on sexuality and human morality in otherwise traditional science fiction.His short fiction has appeared in "Asimov's" and "Sci Fiction", and has been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the Sidewise Award, and the HOMer Award, and three of his novels ("The Transmigration of Souls", "Acts of Conscience", and "When We Were Real") were finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award with "Acts of Conscience" winning a special citation in 1998.