Prairie Schooner

“It’s A Bit Mysterious, and I Like That”: An Interview with Frank X. Gaspar
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“It’s A Bit Mysterious, and I Like That”: An Interview with Frank X. Gaspar

ByMatthew Thorburn

Frank X. Gaspar writes poems that are lyrical, powered by swift associations, and full of surprising images and leaps in thought that in retrospect make perfect sense. He is the author of five collections of poems, including Late Rapturous and The Holyoke, as well as two novels, most recently Stealing Fatima. Frank was born and…

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The Best Short Story I Read in a Lit Mag This Week: “Night Island” by Mary Helen Specht

ByRoss McMeekin

I’m a believer that some story shapes lend themselves more readily to pieces of different lengths. The shape of Mary Helen Specht’s story, “Night Island” (Prairie Schooner, Winter 2014), is risky and surprising, and might not work as well in a longer story or novel. But it’s what allows her six-hundred-word flash fiction piece to…