SOME OF US HAVE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING

Sweetly oblique and crookedly innocent, the 11 stories in Scott's debut collection are peopled by men and women with the kind of good intentions bound to get them into trouble. In "Upside-Down Heart," a gay man spends a night on the streets of Boston with his younger sister, whose ex-boyfriend is in the state pen for attempted murder. Fighting a growing attraction to his sister, the protagonist manages by the story's redemptive conclusion to regain a measure of self-respect. Like the best of Scott's tales, this one is buoyed by sharp, insightful dialogue and clever storytelling. Other strong efforts include "Cookout," in which a going-away party teeters on the verge of collapse but never quite falls apart, and "The Whereabouts of Me," in which a ne'er-do-well father on the lam makes good (sort of) for his child by delivering to the mother's door a stolen portable home. Some of the stories are lacking in narrative momentum, and seem suspended in a gloomy fog: "The Right of Way" involves the tortuous and short life of a retarded little girl who has a hole in her heart and a severe limp, and dies of pneumonia after being left to fend for herself in the snow. Another brief tale about a child with a penchant for crashing through his crib bars ("Infection") ends up amounting to little more than a curious yarn. Scott may not score with each tale, but his skill in capturing human interaction in disturbing and awkward circumstances makes up for his lapses. (Oct.)