Unlike many other dystopian climate change narratives, Cynan Jones’s latest book Stillicide is described as “a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive”.

Cynan’s, 44, has been writing since the age of 28. The successful author was born in Llanrhystud but has spent most of his life in the Aberaeron area.

For Cynan, being surrounded by hills, rivers, woods and the coast have played a vital role in his development as an author.

He said: “From a very early age I spent my time make-believing stories in the landscape I played in. When I moved to Aberarth, as an 11 year old, nothing really changed.

“Now I’m nearly 45 I just write stories down rather than run around being in them. It’s more often than not the landscape itself that sparks those stories.”

Previously Cynan’s narratives have grown out of the landscape of Ceredigion, but Stillicide diverges from the norm with a wider geographical perspective.

But man’s connection to the environment – whether that is rural or urban – still remains at the forefront of the novel: “Most of my stories play out in the Ceredigion landscape, although I don’t necessarily make that overt. Stillicide has a wider scope.

“It takes in different regions of Britain because I wanted to present a sense of society – and the different communities that make up society as a whole – facing climate crisis and overpopulation. People in different places face different challenges.”

The location of each of the stories is unknown. By making the landscape familiar yet ambiguous, Cynan explains that the narrative becomes recognisable to everyone.

The book contains 12 stand-alone yet somehow connected stories, which were originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and broadcast on air over 12 weeks from 11 August to 27 October 2019.

The book is the set in the future but Cynan refrains from providing a specific date. Each of the 12 stories follows a different individual, all of which find that their lives ultimately interlock. The stories are set at a time when climate change has worsened and water has become commodified.

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now