[eBook Resistance]

Yesterday, January 29th, 2010, a day that will live in infamy, all readers of electronic books were suddenly and deliberately attacked by the combined forces of the Macmillan Tyranny.

Although Kindle users are taking the brunt of the onslaught today, make no mistake that if we were to break under the forces of the enemy, Nook and Sony and iPad users will suffer the same $15.00 fate in the future.

Let our Nook and Sony and iPad kindred realize that their destiny is tied to our destiny. That their freedom is tied to our freedom. That their price is tied to our price. That none of us can walk alone.

Let all readers of electronic books declare, that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Macmillan, a state of war has existed between all eBook readers and the Macmillan Tyranny. Hostilities exist. War has begun. There is no blinking at the fact that our format, our eBooks and the price we pay for them are in grave danger.

This is why I make this call to arms, to our Nook and Sony and iPad brothers and sisters, to put aside our petty loyalties and stand together, not for a particular reader or format or platform or store or company, to stand together not for those things that divide us but for those things that unite us.

To stand and fight together for all ebooks, whether they come from the plains of the Kindle, or the forests of the Nook, or the beaches of the Sony, or the mountains of the iPad, to be priced at a value that not only honors the labor of the author, that not only satisfies the greed of the publisher, that not only covers the burden of the store, but that also respects the dignity, yes the dignity of the reader.

I call for our Nook and Sony and iPad brothers and sisters to join us in this sacred struggle, to boycott and shun books from the Macmillan Tyranny, not only in their devices but in the retail stores too.

Let us speak with one voice, let us hope with one heart, let us buy with one wallet, let us all share the bounty of the same dream. A dream where users of the Kindle and the Nook and the Sony and the iPad, will come together and join hands and sing "$9.00 at last! $9.00 at last! Thank eBook Almighty, $9.00 at last!".

The Battle of Kindle has begun. Upon this battle depends the very future of the eBook. The whole fury and might of the enemy will fall on us. The Macmillan Tyranny knows that it will have to break us or lose the eBook War. If we can stand up to it, all eBook readers everywhere may be free of the $15.00 chains and share in the $9.99 dream. But if we fail, then the whole world, including our Nook and Sony and iPad kindred, will sink into the abyss of a new Print Age made more expensive by their dominance of the digital format.

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long days of struggle and of suffering. Neutrals will ask, what is our policy? Let us say: It is to wage war, by store, by author, by publisher with all our might and with all the leftover dollars Uncle Sam has seen fit to leave us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of digital crime. That is our policy.

The neutral will ask, what is our aim? Let us answer with one word: victory. Victory at all costs over $9.99, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no liberty.

Let that be realized; no liberty for our beloved electronic books, no freedom from the greed of the publisher, no independence for all that eBooks have stood for, no survival for the hope and dream of the ages.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated attack, electronic book readers everywhere, in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but we will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Let us have full confidence that if we all do our duty, we shall prove ourselves able to defend our eBooks, to ride out this storm, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

Even though a large number of eBooks and many old and famous works have fallen or may yet fall into the grips of the $15.00 Empire, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength, we shall defend our eBooks, whatever the sacrifice may be, we shall fight on the internet, we shall fight in the stores, we shall fight in the blogs and in the media, we shall fight in the hearts and minds of the readers; we shall never surrender!

Even if, which we do not for a moment believe, this Kindle or a large part of it were subjugated by the enemy, then our eBook readers brothers and sisters beyond, armed and guarded by the Nook and the Sony and the iPad, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New eBook Readers, with all their power and might, step forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.

So let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves witness that in the future, when readers of electronic books get their Kindle 8s and Nook 6s and Sony 10s and iPad 4s, they will look back to today and say, 'This was their finest hour.'