Hello, friends!
Iâm Jaime Buckley. Storyteller, cartoonist & family man, whoâs crafting the kind of fantasy world I wish I had access to when I was a kid.
Life of Fiction is the magical hub where I write stories from Wanted Hero. If you enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, humor, or youâre interested in storytelling yourself, you might enjoy hanging out with me. You never knowâŚweâd probably become friends.
Building this particular fictional world is full-time, which I start at 4am every weekday.
Itâs overflowing with comical, intelligent, and oftentimes odd and/or questionable beings who have a habit of talking back. There are times when the voices in my head are so loud, my wife will stop and ask, âDid you say something, dear?â
Yeah, itâs that bad.
Itâs not always the wizards, dragons, demons, or the 1.5 billion gnomes that I worry about. You can toss most of them a doughnut, put on a pot of coffee, or shoot them a memo to keep them happy. Itâs the characters who insist on engaging readers in the comment sections that I have a hard time controlling.
Please be patient. Theyâre excited youâre here.
Why Subscribe?
Do you love fiction, want to read it first, ask questions, be heard about your thoughts and opinions, and spend time interacting with the author?
Then sign up.
It literally costs the same as one bad cup of coffee a week.
Not Starbucks. The cheap stuff from the gas station.
$1.75 a week gets you access to everything. Only $7 a month.
Mondays AM is âMorning Coffeeâ, a personal video from me.
Tuesdays AM is my weekly article, usually my thoughts and fictional journal.
Wednesdays AM I share artwork, development sketches to speed drawings, and everything in between.
Thursdays AM is the Life of Fiction podcast (including bonuses) which you can listen to through the Substack website/app OR any podcast platform you like (Apple, Spotify, even YouTube, etc.).
My fantasy writing, which only paid member receives, will be sent out Fridays at 5pm MTDâŚjust in time for the weekend.
I scheduled your exclusive content on Fridays afternoons so you can read by the pool, by the fire with a hot cup of tea / coffee / coco, or on the couch snuggled under that amazing comforter Aunt May quilted for your birthday.
Read at your leisure.
âŚand you get a direct connection to me. Yay!
My âWHYâ (microwave version)
Ever since I created my first fantasy comic book and shared it online as a PDF, I knew Iâd tell stories for the rest of my life. That was over 20 years and a million downloads ago. Wanted Hero is my love. It is my passion. It is my obsession. Characters and creatures still scratch at the back of my mind, bubbling up from my inkwell, trying to escape. Thousands of personalities and accidental heroes, seamlessly interwoven across adventures,âŚand Iâd like to share them all with you.
Especially Wendell, the 17 year old accidental hero.
The world of WANTED HERO has held a special place in the lives of my family. Stories started at bedtime, shared by candlelight. Once turned into comics, this experience was eagerly consumed by nieces and nephews, neighbors and friends. When strangers asked for them, I built a website and sold them online. As my kids got older, the stories transformed into novels, games, podcasts, uplifting merchandise and a growing fan base.
In 2022, I did the unthinkable. I pulled the plug on everything.
Overwhelmed, something inside me just,âŚbroke. Corporations and platforms kept taking the lionâs share of the profits, which meant I was forced to focus on my day job instead of my readers. Hackers kept redirecting links and infesting my websites with malware. Marketing was a nightmare, outmatched by larger wallets (Google, I hope you choke on your bottom line).
Worst of all, I compromised the original story to run after trends.
The decision was simple: start over with the original plan. If I was going to struggle financially, then why not do it the way Iâd always wanted to?
Ignore trends. Forget social media. Reach out directly to readers. Build relationships. Offer early & behind the scene access to stories, and direct access to me along the way. In that decision, I found my original voice and started writing again.
Genuine. Whole. Unapologetic.
Dang, it feels good to be me again.
If youâre interested in the whole (unabridged) story of how I got here, you can read:
My subscriptions exist for the benefit of my readers.
Life of Fiction provides me the opportunity to put you first, because you make doing what I love possible. Subscriptions allow me to create more and better experiences for everyone. That goes for both FREE and paid subscriptions. By having a space where we can enjoy a direct connection on the internet, I can put you first and shape the future of LoF together.
Thank you for being a part of my new story.
If you like what you see, make sure to tell a friend.
Look forward to getting to know you better =)
