Life Is Hot in Cracktown

Giovinazzo's debut collection of short fiction purports to tell real stories of the crack-ridden inner-city streets, but their combined effect is to repel rather than reveal. Of his 16 tales, all previously unpublished, not one has any but the crudest plotting, scene-building or characterization. In a typical story, ``Miss Lonely Has a Date Tonight,'' a prostitute has sex with her pimp's chauffeur in exchange for a few hits of crack; after suffering rape and physical abuse, she is brutally murdered. In another, ``Londa Fries Her Egg,'' a pregnant crack addict is beaten savagely by her father until she aborts her fetus. Scatological, crudely written and relentlessly sordid, these tales are only for readers stronger in stomach than in discrimination. (Aug.)