Squid Teeth: A Tor Original

by Sarah Langan

A woman talented in the art of spinning--creating pottery by manipulating clay in her mouth--longs to become the best, but wonders if it is worth the sacrifices she must make…

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories

39 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2025

About the author

Sarah grew up on Long Island, got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, her MS in environmental toxicology from NYU, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family, two rabbits, and three chickens.

Her next novel TRAD WIFE is due out from S&S and Tor UK in Summer, 2026.

Her most recent works include A BETTER WORLD, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PAM KOWOLSKI IS A MONSTER, YOU HAVE THE PRETTIEST MASK, "Does Harlen Lattner Dream of Electric Sheep?," "Squid Teeth," "The Devil's Children," and "I Miss You Too Much."


*I acknowledge that I have massacred the punctuation surrounding the above quotations marks. I will now resume talking about myself in the third person.*

Her books have received favorite of the year distinctions from NPR, Newsweek, The Irish Times, Publisher's Weekly, and the AARP (best of the last five years).

She is also three-time Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2007 - The Missing, outstanding short story in 2008 - The Lost, and outstanding novel in 2009 - Audrey's Door.

Blog:https://sarahlangan.com/blog/

Reviews

[Marisa]

This was genuinely very entertaining. I have never read anything like this concept. Very easy read. Makes you feel a little squirmish and to just appreciate what you have naturally.

[S.A Reidman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A nautilus is always hungry. It makes more progress every day. Someone ought to have told us: They never stop with the tongue."

It's rare that I find a five star short but this one is so close ... I mean look at this:

Humans who've evolved +squid🦑+ink✒️ making plates🍽️ + a fancy competition full of dread and a ton of foreboding. It is cosmic, hallucinogenic and somewhat Lovecraftian if it were on mushrooms experiencing another plane of existence where homo sapiens became bipedal homo cephalopod. It is the best kind of weird scifi-horror.

"I liked my teeth. Their permanence and solidity countered the tenderness of my ink sack and tongue. I liked the messiness of my spinning process, its carnality." - I can't even compare this to anything and I love that.

Teeth,blood, plates, parasitic sea creatures and something alien, something galactic...I need this in novel form 🥺 

[Per · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/squid-teeth-sa...

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in a world where people spin clay plates using their mouths, and produce patterns on the plate using ink pouches in their mouths, one artist has the opportunity to become a famous plate spinner. But to do it, he has to join a competition and become one of the winners. During the competition, he sees the results it has on those who did not make it, and starts to have second thoughts. But the lure of winning may prove to be too much to overcome.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too much body horror for my taste, but that's just my personal preference.

[Arimi Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a slow paced horror. I say slow paced because it builds you into the more horrific things, I found the pacing to be brilliant. I wasn't too sure at first what I Was reading but Langan slowly induces you into more horrific elements that made me cringe and shut my eyes, pausing for breath before I continued reading. The story was brilliant, short and sweet- but a blend of horrific elements that had me worried about what I would read next.

There were elements of comedy in it too, as I've quoted. It was nice to see a reflection of modern society in ways, gently laced into the text.

Thank you to Reactor and Sarah Langan for making this book free on Reactor, as well as there being a physical copy available for purchase for those interested.

Link here: https://reactormag.com/squid-teeth-sa...

[Nicholas Kaufmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling novelette about creativity and what we lose when we commodify it. Sarah Langan is a master of creating authentic human characters, the kind you care about but who also make bad decisions sometimes or who act petty out of insecurity. She's also great at fictional metaphors, and here, plate-spinning can easily stand in for any creative pursuit where the pressure to succeed and to be among the "important" people, even if that means fundamentally changing who you are, overpowers and flattens the joy of creativity, the purity of it. SQUID TEETH is a short, quick read that's sure to be enjoyed by fans of science-fiction and horror, but for readers who are also creative artists, it'll leave a lasting mark.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story started out pretty strange and just got weirder and weirder the further I read. I had trouble feeling empathy for the main character, since her instincts told her what not to do, but she didn't listen to them. Her ambitions just over-ruled any common sense she had. And then the story just turned full-on horror and made my head hurt.

[Thia Reads A Lot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3*

The artist is writing this to her younger self, maybe hoping to change the past? Some people can spin plates from clay in their mouths. She struggled for many years, then got invited to Gyle for a retreat of some sort. She gets her back teeth removed, then get a nautilus implanted. She can't do the opalescent stuff she used to, and the nautilus is always hungry.

[luiloth · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/squid-teeth-sa...

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cautionary tale that will creep out some and really creep out the rest

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore this author; her long-form piece here is ambitious and carries much of the wit I am used to from her, but it is not my favorite of her work.

[Travis Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird fiction that's truly weird. The tentacles don't even feel obligatory.

[sundew · Rating 3 out of 5]

probably the strangest premise i've ever read (spinning pottery but in your mouth???)

[Rereader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick horror story that perfectly sums up why chasing success often times has more consequences than benefits.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Squid Teeth" is deliciously creepy. Sarah Langan at her best. I've got to find more of her shorter works; compression makes diamonds.

[kyliemm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet and deeply, viscerally unnerving.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and uncomfortable, like all good short stories.

[Sarah Langan]

All five stars, all the time!