The Achilli siblings would like you to know that if there was a Dead Parent Contest (there's not), they would win the gold medal. In 2008, their dad was murdered by a hitman in a dispute over a girlfriend. Four years after their father's killers are tried and convicted, their mom dies after driving her car off a cliff.

This is a story about being orphaned as young adults and the family ties that keep siblings together.

Grieving is a lonely experience. Many of us who have been through it wish there was a handbook to lead us through the experience. When comedy writer Jason Roeder lost his mom, he decided to write the guidebook that he wanted to read.

This episode of Terrible Reading Club is a chat with Jason about his book Griefstrike!, a humorous guide to grief.

Jason Roeder is comedy writer, and is the former senior writer and editor of The Onion.

In April 2022, Marlin Sill’s father died from a head injury caused by a cycling accident. A few weeks later, he embarked on a months-long hike through the Western United States. Throughout last summer, Marlin sent the TTFA team voice memos of himself processing his dad’s death while he hiked. In this episode we take you on the trail with Marlin as he starts to grieve, and also throughout the rest of the first year without his dad.

In the early morning hours of June 24th, 2021, an apartment complex in Surfside, Florida collapsed out of nowhere, killing 98 people – including Patty’s mom, Maggie. It’s difficult enough to lose a loved one to an unthinkable tragedy. It’s exceptionally awful when you’re forced to watch them die over and over again on national television.

Chelsea’s mom and unborn brother died in a car accident on Chelsea’s first birthday, leaving little Chelsea and her grief-stricken father behind to piece back together their shattered life. As a child, Chelsea longs for a mom – a living mom – and she’s thrilled when her dad remarries a wonderful woman named Shawna. But even when she’s surrounded by love, Chelsea still finds herself trying to fill a gaping hole in her heart.