We demonstrate a target for recombination-pumped soft-x-ray lasers, consisting of an equally spaced array of parallel fibers. This target is capable of producing long media of several centimeters, and can also generate high gain due to the initial two-dimensional expansion of the plasma. Numerical simulations show that amplification occurs after the plasma expansion changes from a cylindrical to a slablike one, as a result of collisions with plasma produced from neighboring fibers. Initial gain measurements using graphite-coated fiber array targets reveal Balmer &agr; gain coefficients of4.1 cm−1.©1998 American Institute of Physics.