Deya Bhattacharya
is a freelance writer and former business development manager from Bangalore, India. She started writing fiction during the Covid-19 lockdown last year and couldn’t be happier about it. Her first publication was in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of Eclectica Magazine, followed by her acceptance into Season 2 of Pendust Radio.
She lives with her husband, who has to remind her every day to eat her vegetables, and their ever-growing family of stuffed animals.
Check out her blog about the writing life at Once There was a Silent Town.
Fiction | Dramatization
Adrian’s Affinity
written by Deya Bhattacharya
Adrian’s Affinity is a lush and lyrical story about a sensitive and intelligent boy with a special affinity — he can attract birds. It’s not a power, because he can’t control it. And it’s not an ability he wants, as it makes others — even his own mother — suspicious of him.
Both a bittersweet coming-of-age tale and a haunting mystery, this compelling and original story reminds us that we are all shaped by beautiful and mysterious forces as we struggle to fit in and understand ourselves.
This story is dramatized.
© 2021 Deya Bhattacharya | Recording © 2021 Rivercliff Books & Media. All rights reserved.
Read by Saethon Williams and AJ Ferraro
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Stitcher | Email
Deya Bhattacharya is a freelance writer and former business development manager from Bangalore, India. She started writing fiction during the Covid-19 lockdown last year and couldn’t be happier about it. Her first publication was in the Jan/Feb 2021 issue of Eclectica Magazine, followed by her acceptance into Season 2 of Pendust Radio.
She lives with her husband, who has to remind her every day to eat her vegetables, and their ever-growing family of stuffed animals.
Check out her blog about the writing life at Once There was a Silent Town.
Q&A with Deya
Tell us about your story...
It’s about a teenage boy named Adrian who lives in small-town England and has an unusual affinity with birds. They appear before him, individually or in droves, and he doesn’t know why.
It’s a mystery story on one level, but it’s also about the struggle of trying to understand yourself and fit in when you’re ‘different’ from your peers.
What was the inspiration for this story?
The first few lines had actually popped into my head out of nowhere about three years ago — there are strange-looking birds on a lawn somewhere and a boy named Adrian is watching them. I’d written it down because it seemed like something I could use later, and then summer of last year I fleshed it out.
What have you read recently that you loved?
The Doll And Other Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier. They’re some of her early stories, and many of them are unfinished, but there’s a raw talent that shines through and promises greater works to come. It’s like getting up close and personal with the growth trajectory of one of our greatest literary minds.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
I try to not feel guilty about the things that bring me pleasure, but if I had to pick – Nutella! It’s just so ridiculously decadent.
Who/What makes you laugh?
The YouTube channel “Bad Lip Reading.” It’s run by a guy who creates video montages of movie stars, sports stars and politicos by deliberately misreading the lip movements of what they’re saying. The phrases he comes up with are sheer genius — and he composes great spoof songs too!
What's the best thing that's happend to you recently?
Getting to marry the love of my life, whom I met on a dating app just before the Covid-19 lockdown. Ours was a whirlwind romance in the truest sense of the word and I couldn’t be happier about it.
If You Enjoyed This Episode…
give these a listen!
Sandhill Cranes
ANNA PRAWDZIK HULL
Hector, a young man from Albuquerque, is one semester away from getting a degree from the University of New Mexico. His mother, who was recently deported from the U.S., is sick and needs urgent care in Oaxaca, Mexico. To help her, Hector gets a job working for a secretive character, a man named Johnny G, whose dangerous side business — if you can call it that — opens Hector’s eyes, and his heart.
Bar Kafka
FRANCIS DUFFY
“Bar Kafka” is the gripping story of Joe Nickerson’s adventures after serving in Vietnam. We travel with him from Vietnam to Japan, and after he arrives home, from Los Angeles to New Jersey. Captivated by a stalwart, seductive, and enigmatic woman, he ultimately returns to Japan… which leads to a most unexpected encounter.
Hideaway Lounge
WILLIAM TORPHY
This is the story of Margaret and Bernie’s long marriage, told through a series of nostalgic flashbacks to Hollywood of the 1950s. As they near the end of their long lives, the couple hatches a surprising plan, and one fateful night they return to the Sunset Inn, where they first met sixty years earlier.