Stephen King knows a thing or two about monsters – he’s created some of the most chilling ghouls in modern fiction. Naturally, the prospect of President Trump has inspired him to pick up his pen.

King is one of more than 600 US writers who have signed an open letter “to the American people” condemning Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions. “The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,” they write.

“For all these reasons,” the letter concludes, “we, the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, oppose, unequivocally, the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.”