u/FuturesSoDank

I just began reading the first book of the series last night, started looking for more information to see if there were more books, and found that the author has been fighting an aggressive form of cancer for the last three or more years.

I found his Patreon and it looks like he stopped posting about four months ago; up until mid-January he had posted messages on it every few weeks.

I'm hoping to get the title, the author, and a mention of any short story anthologies it may have been included in.

I remember this story being a somewhat popular one in anthologies decades ago. It was probably from the 1980s but may have been published anywhere from the 1970s to the 1990s. It may have been by William Sanders, but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part -- it's very much his sort of writing, though.

The plot is that the father of a family has gotten an enthusiasm for the idea of homesteading their own land. He drives his family out to a parcel of land that the government has allocated to him, but can barely find it, as the parcel has been shrunk by magic into a tiny little valley that is barely noticeable. A native American is trying to keep the land for himself via magic. The father and the Indian argue back and forth, with the family providing a bunch of comic banter, and the Indian telling them he won't let them take his land.

The father insists on attempting to occupy his homestead and forces his way into the tiny little valley, whereupon the valley begins to expand as the magic begins to fail against the father's willpower. The family joins the father. The Indian wails about losing his land, then works more magic to force the land to compress back down into the valley. The family barely escapes, then piles into their car and drives off.

Thanks.