A Scribe’s Gratitude
May 26th, 2025 – From the Desk of Höbin Luckyfeller
To Whom It May Occasionally Concern (especially you wonderful reader-types),
I’m not often sentimental. It causes chest pains and makes my right eye twitch.
But as the Keeper of Record for the Chronicles of a Hero—and arguably the only one with enough sense to write this world down properly—I must say something before the celebration tomorrow. Something honest. Something I’ll likely deny if you quote me in public.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here.
For reading.
For caring.
For not deleting the archives or using my field notes as birdcage liner. (Yes, I saw that, Gary. You’re not sneaky.)
It’s been 21 years since Jaime decided to ignore common sense and build this world online. I’ve watched from the shadows (sometimes literally—I’ve got a very fine Perception Cloak™), and I’ve recorded everything I could: the truths, the lies, the heroes, the ones who didn’t want the job but took it anyway.
I've also watched Jaime pour a substantial portion of his own life into these works. Starting first to entertain and inspire his children, and then desiring to do more. His family has also sacrificed, time and again, so that Jaime could focus on stories that has affected thousands.
I didn’t expect to still be writing.
Didn’t expect to get emotionally attached.
Didn’t expect Wendell to survive this long, if I’m being honest.
And yet… here we are.
Wanted Hero Day has arrived.
And yes, the human behind all this madness turns 56 today.
He’s doing something ridiculous—giving people gifts to celebrate his birth. Very out-of-character.
I blame emotional maturity.
But if you’ve read even a little of the chronicles…or if you’ve laughed or cried or rolled your eyes at my field entries or occasional commentary (which is flawless, by the way)—then I’d be honored if you joined us.
The next era is coming.
And if you thought the first 21 years were wild…
you have no idea what’s in that smuggler’s crate.
With mild affection and begrudging admiration,
–Höbin Luckyfeller
Fishis, Keeper of Lore, Collector of Dangerous Secrets
What do you call a story that started as a bedtime story, became a comic book, was converted into novels, games, podcasts, transformed into a brand, and now fuels a global audience?
Around here, we call it Wanted Hero.
This isn’t just a milestone.
It’s a myth in the making.
…or a horrible mistake we just refuse to admit.
But it’s one of those. Pretty sure.
Personally, I’m gonna go with the first one, cause ya know, I’d like to sound more professional…AND motivated…because I do love what I do.
May 27th is officially Wanted Hero Day. It’s a International holiday, even though it’s usually just my own family & friends that celebrate it. BUT I give you COMPLETE PERMISSION to observe it where you live. Call in sick, play hooky, celebrate it in the streets…keep it friendly, kiddos.
“Jaime Buckley is a unique and quirky breed of writer. It’s not because of his style or skill….but his focus.
What’s makes this man so likable and why we adore him is that within minutes, you quickly realize his business isn’t products or information–it’s people. Teaching, encouraging, entertaining, empowering and uplifting people–no matter who they are or where they live. What’s impressive, is he’s incredibly good at it.
Just to be clear, this isn’t something Jaime does…it’s who he is…and that powerful fact makes him a gem…”
Why May 27th THIS Year Is EXTRA Special To Us…
Today is Wanted Hero’s 21st Birthday ONLINE.
Jaime built the website in March, but he was completely new to web work and HTML…and there were kinks he had to work out, using library books and no one to guide him.
Here’s what the very first WantedHero.com website looked like:
Fun Facts About Wanted Hero
The original funding for this project was acquired while heavily intoxicated, in Nevada, from a night playing slot machines.
The lowest original website design bid we got back was for $20,000.
After we stopped laughing, we found HTML ‘How To’ books and built a simple version in-house.
By December 2005, the original website received over 750,000 visitors, 100% word-of-mouth, from 60 countries.
We also built a phpBB message board, which had 29,000+ registered users, 15,000+ actively engaged in conversations every week.
This was before Facebook was open to the public.
This was before the Kindle was invented.
IF the Wayback Machine is correct, Wanted Hero may be the very first digital comic book sold online (at least as a PDF).
Our very first customer, for ¢.99 was Deborah Harper, a 50 year old woman who had never read a comic book in her life. She became our greatest advocate for almost 5 years after that purchase, opening doors to dozens of relationships online.
Our first comic book review was by New York Times & International BestSelling Author Barry Eisler. "Jaime is an amazingly talented storyteller, artist, and illustrator. The first time I saw his work I was blown away — and he’s only gotten better since!”
Today is also Jaime’s 56th Birthday.
We’re celebrating the hour of his birth at 7:56 am
by giving 56 people…a 56% discount on annual subscriptions.
…for life.
If you ever wanted full access to Life of Fiction, you’ll never get a better discount than this, right here, right now. Grab one for yourself. Get one for a friend. If you’re a company, grab these as gifts for your employees.
[Yes, Chris, I’m talking to you…]
…there are 56 available.
When they’re gone, we will turn the discount off.
“What If I Miss the 56% Discount?” You Ask.
Don’t worry. We also have a wonderful discount to celebrate Wendell and Wanted Hero’s 21st Birthday. For the last days of May 2025, you can still get a discount 21% on annual plans.
"Any time I’m feeling down or unmotivated all I have to do is hop over here and it’s like happiness caffeine.
(Must. Get. Jaime. Fix.)
Jaime is hands-down one of the most talented, encouraging and downright fun people I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting to know. I refer to him as my muse because every time we chat, or I read something he’s written, it inspires me to go create something amazing. He has a way of bringing out the best in people just by being his outrageously hilarious self.
His writing is way too entertaining, though…I’m not getting any sleep lately because it’s too hard to put his books down and go to bed!"
Milestones Since We Launched in 2005:
🔥 Over 1,000,000 Comic Book Downloads
It started with a single story. A boy. A world. A sarcastic artifact that bites.
We put the story out there. No advertising. No plan.
Just a lot of hope.
…and people found us. Asked for more. They started sharing.
Over Facebook. Across the table. Recommending to family and friends. To libraries.
From there, downloads surged.
As we made the next issue, we would sell the newest part of the storyline, and make the previous comic book free. Yes, I said ‘FREE’, because we wanted to get the story into the hands of kids more than the money. Sometimes working two, even three jobs to keep the lights on, while sharing the comics with parents, teachers across the country trying to encourage kids to read.
Now the story has appeared as audiobooks, eBooks, serialized fiction, and used enough bandwidth to crash lesser servers.
And still, readers want more.
🎁 Here’s A Gift: Wanted Hero’s Original Debut Comic PDF Book
This is the actual file we used to sell online, back in the HTML days. The exact file people would pay for through PayPal, download, print out on their home printer….or read from the screen. That was before Marvel, before DC, before Image comics.
…and it worked.
13 fast-paced comics kicked off the visual mayhem (grab the premiere issue as a treat…above).
3 graphic novels (YES, printed. Vol 1, Vol 2, + The Collectors Edition).
📖 Novels
13 novels were written, starting in 2009 using the comics as the launching pad…filled with sarcasm, heart, and enough plot twists to make M. Night Shyamalan curl up with tea. The first one was written while homeless. The others under harsh financial circumstances, always pushing forward.
In 2023, we moved to Substack and decided to take the novels down and REwrite the Chronicles of a Hero series from Wendell’s perspective. If our fan emails are any indication, it sounds like we made the right choice.
Current available books include:
CROSSPOINT (a CYOA book)
We also have the first younger reader, for ages 4-11: The Underlings!
"Jaime’s commitment to teaching kids how to be better people is inspiring.
He manages to teach heroism and other niceties through his fiction so that his readers don’t even realize they’re learning. That’s the best kind of teaching and it’s rare. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone like him and there’s probably a reason for that.
So, get to know him – you won’t regret it."
🎲 Games
We’ve always had ideas for games. Experiences that would allow readers to have fun within the themed world of Wanted Hero. We worked on two card games and two board games, but we [sadly] kept partnering with the wrong folks.
Our first game was Race to Til-Thorin, partnering with a small indie-company. They created the game mechanics, we had the theming and customers. Our agreement crashed before we even took off. Only a handful of games were ever sold.
The second game was GoSmiley — based on the magical animated smiley on Wendell’s shirt. This time, we developed both the mechanics and artwork, and our partners were there solely to market. They were kind, fair, honest, extremely generous…and we hope to work with them again some day. They launched the game on Amazon, selling close to 10,000 copies before our ideas were duplicated by multiple companies with deeper pockets and we lost our market share.
Trench Wars was created by Evan Buckley…based on the fourth book by the same name in the original Chronicles series. An amazing board game with card decks allowed fans to experience the dangerous Xtreme Sport played by the gnomes of Clockworks City. Hailed by the Utah Gaming Guild as one of the best creations they’d ever seen, sadly, our family hit a slew of hard times and Trench Wars was never completed.
G.E.A.R.S. looked like it was going to be our second breakthrough game after GoSmiley—and be a long-term win. Seeing the popularity of the Trench Wars idea, a fellow gaming guild member offered his game mechanics to be themed Wanted Hero.
“It’s just a fun side project. I won’t ever do anything with it,” we were told. “Do with it what you want, just throw me a few bucks if you make any money.”
Over the next two years, the game was themed, personal funds invested, game reviews acquired, and word-of-mouth buzzed across the internet in certain circles. What excited us, was the wave we saw coming. Sales were waiting for the release and we had invested thousands of hours, using every connection we had to make this work.
The week of our ‘official’ launch date, the guild member showed up, demanding full control of the entire project, including full access to the profits from the projected sales. He’d been watching the excitement grow over the previous two years…and he refused to negotiate or discuss terms.
Jaime said, “No,” pulled the plug…and walked away without a second thought.
“All that effort and potential money sitting right there and you’re just going to walk away?” the man asked.
“Yes,” Jaime replied. “You never lifted a finger to assist us in any way. You’ve shown your character. I’d rather start over, than to allow you to touch this IP.”
The game, to this day, sits on the shelf, unused and ignored.
Our current project, which is shaping up nicely is from a desire to bridge generational gaps, while also making acquiring the game easier in this digital age. That’s why we have turned our attention to Table Top Role Playing Games [or TTRPG for short].
A community-wide project (we ask for reader feedback and adjust from there), supporters of Life of Fiction receive deep discounts on the game, while Founding Guardians receive digital versions (printable PDFs) of this game included in their subscription.
🎙️ Podcasts — Our Only Advertising
We made games, yes…but my 12 year old came to me and said we needed a ‘Podcast’. Something for kids, made by kids. It was a heck of an idea. My daughter said she would take care of the scripts, if I was willing to do the audio.
I had 1.5 Billion gnomes to back me, so…why not?
We created ‘Rappin’ it Up’ with Ditto & Cosmo.
Here’s the first two sessions [original files]…the second audio contains the bloopers and an interview with Cesilea and her younger brother Evan. FYI - ‘Bear’ is Jaime Buckley, father of Cesilea and Evan.
The podcast was a hit, producing tens of thousands of more visitors and greatly increased comic book sales. Jaime also found audio to be immense fun. This idea was expanded upon to market the comics…commercials using characters from the comic books.
Deborah on eComics…
The Doctor…
Pookie…
The Study…
These audio projects were so successful in their little applications, we started doing podcasts and working in audio as a matter of habit. You can listen to our current podcast here.
What amazed us, was the response from readers. Over the last 10 years, very gifted individuals started sending us original music scores. Donations to Wanted Hero, as expressions of how they saw this fictional world after reading the stories themselves.
Here are some of the original songs submitted to us:
Attack On Til-Thorin
Book of Dark Bindings
Chucks Theme Song
Remembering Kyliene
Sanctuary
The Fruit Harvest
The Sound of Ithari
United in Sorrow
These marvelous creations, in turn, inspired us to craft musical creations of our own…and we walked the streets of Clockworks City, with the help of Höbin Luckyfeller, in search of something truly unique in our world.
We found B.B.WING…
Listen to the album: It Started Here
“I remember being so in love with your stories that anytime you updated your website or finished a new chapter I was right there on your office floor sitting at your feet, so mesmerized.
I remember waking up some nights from nightmares and going to your office where you were hard at work, just so I could fall asleep listening to you tapping away on the keyboard.
I definitely wanted to revisit those memories. I miss being your biggest fan that always got to read things before it was published, and encourage you. Your stories ARE awesome!”
- Jessica
Extra Writing
To plant seeds, Jaime wrote over 1100 articles exploring lore, character deep dives, gnome rants (ahem), world-building advice, and philosophical explorations of fictional morality...all to entertain readers =)
🎁 Here’s A Gift: GET 21% OFF YOUR STORE ORDER — Anything You Want
Use the coupon: HAPPYBIRTHDAY21
🎁 Here’s A Gift: FREE DOWNLOAD —The Wanted Hero Coloring Book
To celebrate, we’re offering an exclusive downloadable coloring book! Use it, share it, just have fun!!
Character pages of Wendell, Dax, and Chuck
Characters you love and villains you love to hate
A single printable PDF so you can share the love
🧭 The Point of All This?
Wanted Hero isn’t just fiction.
It’s hope disguised as comedy.
It’s therapy wrapped in chaos.
It’s the reminder that even the most unlikely person—especially the unlikely person—can change the world.
So this Wanted Hero Day, whether you’ve been with us since the first comic, joined in via a podcast, or just stumbled across a gnome holding a bloodstick...
Welcome.
You're part of the story now.
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