Waldo
This title character is a brainiac suffering from myasthenia gravis. To compensate for this muscular disability, he uses his genius to control the effects of gravity in his home. The twist is that rather than being situated as the man with a physical disability whom people love because he responds with a big heart, Waldo is a misanthrope whose power to despise people is matched only his thirst for revenge.
Andrew Jackson “Pinky” “Slipstick” Libby
A recurring character who first appears as the titular “Misfit” whose mathematical genius is first overlooked because of his lack of education and then appreciated when it saves lives. He’s kind of Heinlein’s version of Rudolph and the recognition of his “red nose” value as a character is such that he even makes subsequent appearances in Heinlein novels.
Brooks McNye (Gloria)
“Delilah and the Space Rigger” is not actually about a character named Delilah. In her metaphorical role is the literal presence of Gloria who got her job on an all-male space station construction crew by dropping her first name. She is not wanted and only grudgingly accepted before proving herself in an example of a very rare and very early display of feminism in science fiction.
Jerry
Jerry is a chimpanzee who through genetic engineering has attained an intelligence at least equal to some human beings. Is intellect a defining characteristic of humanity? The story in which he is featured asserts that “Jerry is a Man.” But is he really?
David MacKinnon
The title “Coventry” refers to a place of exile for those criminals who have chosen not to take advantage of a “treatment” which “cures” sociopathic criminal tendencies. David MacKinnon--whose criminality is hardly that of a psychopathic thug--does not intend to become a clockwork orange and instead opts for the anarchic freedom of exile in his naïvely idealistic belief that anywhere free from intrusive governmental regulation is by definition a paradise.
