Don't count out the underdog... Two classic short novels by Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction's Grand Master.
Waldo
North Power Air is in trouble. Their aircraft are crashing at an alarming rate and no one can figure out the cause. Desperate for an answer, they turn to Waldo, a crippled misanthropic genius who lives in a home in orbit around Earth, where the absence of gravity means that his feeble muscle strength does not confine him helplessly in a wheelchair. But Waldo has little reason to want to help the rest of humanity - until he learns that the solution to Earth's problems also holds the key to his own.
Magic, Inc.
In a world where almost everything is done by magic spells, Magic, Inc., under the guise of an agency for magicians, is systematically squeezing the small independent magicians out of business. Then one businessman stood firm. And with the help of an Oxford-educated African shaman and a little old lady adept at black magic, he was willing to take on all the demons of Hell to resolve the problem - once and for all.
