Every trope we publish for Hard Science Fiction, ranked by reader-demand mentions counted over the 28 weeks to 2026-08-24. 1,710 trope mentions counted in the lane in that window. Pick one for the full readout.
Changing the genre and pressing Check demand reloads the trope list for that lane. 3,589 trope-and-lane readouts are published today.
| # | Trope | Mentions | Share of lane | Direction | Tagged titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hard Sci Fi | 76 | 4.44% | Not called | — |
| 2 | First Contact | 48 | 2.81% | Not called | — |
| 3 | Space Opera | 44 | 2.57% | Not called | — |
| 4 | Found Family | 32 | 1.87% | Not called | 345 |
| 5 | Philosophical Sci Fi | 28 | 1.64% | Not called | — |
| 6 | Ensemble Cast | 27 | 1.58% | Not called | — |
Direction is the change in each trope’s share of the lane between the last 12 weeks and the 12 before — never a raw weekly move. “Not called” means the two bands hold fewer than 30 mentions between them and we will not pretend otherwise. Tagged titles are counted across our whole registry, not just this lane.