Over the last two days, I have received two letters from my publisher (via my agents) informing me that two of my backlist Star Trek titles are scheduled to be remaindered. Although they will not technically go out of print (thanks to eBooks and the overpriced Limbo that is print-on-demand), they are about to become much more difficult to acquire in mass-market paperback format.

The earlier of the two titles scheduled for the pulp machine is my 2007 Deep Space Nine novel Warpath. This book helped set the stage for some of my subsequent work in the Mirror Universe setting, and it was a story I wrote during a tumultuous time in my life. Although this novel is steeped in serialized continuity (and therefore not a good jumping-on point for new readers), there is still much in it of which I’m proud.

The second tome slated for a one-way trip to Pulptown is my tale of the Mirror Universe revolution, Rise Like Lions. This is the novel that earned the UnrealitySF “Best Story of the Year” award in 2011 and spent two months on the Locus Bestsellers list in early 2012. It represents the culmination of multiple story arcs I had set into motion in the Mirror Universe, and it will serve as the setup for my upcoming Section 31 novel, Disavowed, coming in November 2014.

One of the perks of being an author is that when one’s books are scheduled to be remaindered, one is often given the opportunity to purchase the remaining copies of the work at a significant discount. And in this case I am sorely tempted.

The catch is that remaindered titles are sold only in cartons of 48 copies each. This makes it a slightly costly proposition even with the major savings Simon & Schuster has offered me. Another concern is that I really have nowhere to store that many surplus copies of books that, historically, have seen little demand through my online store. I hate to let them fade away into that good night without a struggle, but I’m not sure I can justify the cost of stockpiling them, either.

Decisions, decisions.