Milo Yiannopoulos. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Backlash against Milo Yiannopoulos’s Simon & Schuster book deal is now coming from Simon & Schuster’s own roster of authors and artists. The outrage concerns the infamous alt-right troll’s acquisition of a $250,000 advance from Simon & Schuster’s Threshold imprint for his work Dangerous. The book deal has already caught a lot of flak from those disgusted by his frequent harassment, including target Leslie Jones. Now, a letter and petition signed by 160 children’s-books creators, most of whom are on Simon & Schuster’s docket, condemns and protests the publication. In the letter, the book creators express their dismay that “Threshold has placed Simon & Schuster’s considerable reputation and weight behind one of the most prominent faces of the newly repackaged white supremacist/white nationalist movement.” The letter continues, “As Simon & Schuster authors and illustrators who are already published, with books in the release pipeline, with contracts in place, we do not have to quietly accept or assent to this ‘Gleichschaltung,’ this getting in line with fascism and making it mainstream.” Signatories on the message include authors such as Cassandra Clare, Laurie Halse Anderson, Christian Robinson, and Arun Gandhi. The letter, which can be read in full on Publishers Weekly, ends with a plea for Simon & Schuster and CEO and president Carolyn Reidy to “take an irrefutable stand against hate.” Yiannopoulos’s Dangerous is set to hit stores March 14.