Stillicide
A Novel
Cynan Jones
On Sale: 11/17/2020 | $15.95
9781646220137 | Paperback 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 | 192 pages Buy it Now
Book Description
A powerful climate crisis story about love and loss that offers a glimpse of a tangible future in which water is commodified and vulnerable to sabotage that is “close to perfect,” “imaginative and far reaching,” and “very human and deadly serious” (The Guardian).
Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage.
As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life.
From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.
Praise For This Book
"This is a great speculative thriller, fast–paced and pulse–raising, that isn’t so far–fetched." —Sarah Neilson, Shondaland"Haunting and lucidly written . . . Jones’s visionary tale is a singular, brilliantly crafted addition to the climate fiction genre." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Jones' signature, sparse style lends itself well to this apocalyptic slice of life. There are no elaborate plots or extravagant technologies. Rather, nature weaves in and out of these stories in the form of hovering bees, seaweed, and a dampness treasured and elusive . . . Stillicide will linger in its poignancy." —Booklist
Praise for the UK edition of Stillicide
Science Focus, 1 of the 10 Best Science Books of the Year
"Fragmented, marvellously compressed . . . The radical distillation of language, the sense that every word has been individually chosen, results in a blunt perfection that heightens this effect. Narrative exists, but it is secondary to form. On first encounter at least, the pleasures Stillicide offers appear to be more aesthetic than dramatic . . . With recent novels from Megan Hunter, Jenni Fagan, Richard Powers, Ben Smith, John Lanchester and Ghosh himself working hard to imagine the effects of climate crisis at both the global and the personal level, Stillicide can be added to the growing roster of powerful and urgent meditations on the future. As a tract of written language, it is close to perfect. As a repository for ideas, it is imaginative and far reaching. As a story of and for our times, it is very human, and deadly serious." —Nina Allen, The Guardian
"As we are drip–fed more details, the stories pool together into a pellucid portrait of a broken world . . . Less a linear narrative than a layering of images, i>Stillicide is an exercise in matching literary form to a visual idea: as Cynan Jones’s sparse, clear words accumulate down the page, we are left feeling the chill of a slowly melting iceberg."—Clare Saxby, The Times Literary Supplement
“How big this small book is, giving the barest details of its future world . . . Exciting, upsetting and essential.” —Financial Times
“A piece of superb hardboiled noir . . . Stillicide has an enigmatic, surging power . . . This is a novella that seeks to alienate us from our grip on language and from our everyday taken–for–granted understanding of reality . . . powerful and disturbing.” —New Welsh Review
“A tense and moving love story . . . high–stake miniatures that expertly convey the impression of time moving but also staying still . . . unforgettable.” —Daily Mail
