Stillicide
novel by Cynan Jones
Stillicide is a collection of short stories originally commissioned by the BBC as a radio drama. The stories were later published in the literary magazine Granta and also published as a novel by Catapult in 2020.
Background
The word "Stillicide" means water falling in drops that cause erosion over time, which reflects the story's themes of environmental crisis and water scarcity. The stories take place in the future and revolve around different attempts at mitigating a devastating drought in the UK. The series was originally commissioned for BBC radio, the literary magazine Granta also published the collection of stories, and the book was published by Catapult. The novel was published on November 17, 2020. The book alludes to instances in the 1960s when Welsh towns were flooded to provide drinking water for English towns such as the Tryweryn flooding. The 12-episode podcast was written by Cynan Jones and produced by the BBC. The podcast featured Anne-Marie Duff, Richard Goulding, and Alex Jennings.
Plot
Water is scarce and pipelines to the city have been bombed by terrorists, which means that water has to be delivered to the city on a train. The first short story follows an armed policeman named John Branner who is tasked with guarding the train carrying the water to the city, and his orders are to shoot anything that gets close to the train. One of the short stories is a love letter from John Branner's wife who is terminally ill.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Stillicide” is novel by Cynan Jones. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Stillicide, novel and Cynan, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “novel by Cynan Jones” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q133309146. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2020.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Stillicide”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Stillicide primary sources, Stillicide archive and Stillicide research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Stillicide”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Stillicide” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.