Eccentric Circles

Drawn from all walks of life, the characters in this engaging collection of 15 stories move in private orbits, occa sionally connecting which occasionally intersect with those of others. In ``Domestic Tranquility,'' a married couple take turns destroying each other's cherished personal belongings in an internecine running feud. In ``Devereaux's Existence,'' a homeless alcoholic, once a journalist, ludicrously acts as his own lawyer when charged as a peeping Tom. Observed with great sympathy and humor, Duberstein's people labor under illusions, as witness the shy salesman who feels liberated when he takes home a New Orleans nude dancer for a $250 tryst, or the Manhattan lawyer who represents and befriends a former high-school classmate charged with assaulting a bag lady. Quietly moving tales of coping with adversity include ``Fishing for Gorillas,'' about a girl's weird dreams when her mother becomes paralyzed, and ``The Off Season,'' in which a gay couple bravely face the terminal illness (cancer and possibly AIDS) of one of them. Whether he is writing about a mortician at the racetrack, a mafioso stuffed in a trunk or a philandering yuppie Boston attorney, Duberstein ( Carnovsky's Retreat ) puts his finger on extraordinary moments in seemingly ordinary lives. (Dec.)