Fictional Fans

Fair enough, although by the really strict definitions of hard SF I can only think of half a dozen or so books that might meet it. (Even the ones that are "what if this new technology" are often mostly about the social ramifications of it, whether they realize it or not.)

I feel like Star Trek was trying very hard to be hard (or at least Social Science) SF up until at least most of DS9, but the later series do seem to be falling very much on the side of "Space Opera, specifically as in a soap opera in space". I am just stuck in a time when Voyager was the "new Star Trek" and it's hard to remember there's now been more series since Voyager than before it.