Waves (novel)

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Waves
Author Ogan Gurel
102 illustrations, majority drawn by
Illustrator
author
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publication date February 5, 2009
Media type e-book

Waves (also known as Waves - The Trilogy) is a three-part novel by Ogan Gurel
published in 2009.[1] A 21st century version of Faust, the novel explores good and evil in
both individual and global settings focusing around a hypothetical (though reality-based)
technology that has both medical and military applications. The protagonist, Tomas
Twarok, is a contemplative and idealistic doctor-turned-entrepreneur who strikes a deal
with his college friend, Maximilian Iblis, a ruthless hedge fund manager.

The novel is constructed around three interleaved frame-narratives. The Melody, a reality-
based sci-fi thriller that goes forward in time. The Harmony, which passes backward in
time is a psychological drama (Bildungsroman) focusing primarily around the
protagonist. The Rhythm, a scientific dialogue, which takes place over twelve hours in a
single day. Music as metaphor plays an important unifying theme throughout the book.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Background
• 2 Plot Summary
• 3 Major Characters in Waves
o 3.1 Melody
o 3.2 Harmony
o 3.3 Rhythm
o 3.4 Other
• 4 Major Themes
• 5 Allusions and references to other works
• 6 Musical references
 • 7 Scientific Concepts Discussed
• 8 References
o 8.1 Notes
• 9 Book information

• 10 External links

[edit] Background
Waves is primarily a work of fiction in which several principal characters (and nations)
grapple in competition as well as in parallel over the development and application of a
new technology that utilizes terahertz radiation to detect and manipulate the function of
individual proteins, specifically their motions (or molecular dynamics). Waves is also a
scientific treatise (in the form of literature) that outlines some of the background and
implications of this technology which, in turn, creates a literary device by which the
reader realizes that all that transpires in the plot may not necessarily be fantasy. Tomas
Twarok, the protagonist, calls this technology the 'Novum Organum'; the reference to
Francis Bacon's work of the same name is not accidental. The Singaporeans (who
develop the technology in parallel) call it EastStar.

[edit] Plot Summary

The plot is complex. What begins as a deal struck between the two main characters,
Tomas Twarok and Maximilian Iblis, spins out of control. Parallel developments occur in
Colombia, Singapore, Iran, and Malaysia, all requiring a response by the American
President complicated by a concurrent (and deepening) financial crisis.

[edit] Major Characters in Waves

Over 100 characters appear in the book. Major characters are listed below as they appear
in the Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm sections.

[edit] Melody
Tomas Twarok
A doctor-turned-entrepreneur thwarted
in several attempts to bring his
technology (Novum Organum) to
fruition makes a deal with a college
friend of his, Maximilian Iblis, now a
leading hedge-fund manager.
Contemplative and idealistic he tries to
guide the application of his idea
towards medical aims but learns that the
world has other plans. His character is
modeled after Goethe's Faust and
Bulgakov's 'Master' in The Master and
Margarita. Tomas is American with
some mixed Hungarian and Polish
ancestry. In terms of the meaning of the
name 'Twarok', the Polish folklore
character Pan Twardowski presents
some similarities to Faust. Twaróg
refers to a special type of Central
European cheese, also known as Quark
cheese which can be used for both
sweet and sour applications, reflecting
the concept that good and evil are
resident within all.
Maximilian Iblis
 A Harvard educated German hedge-
fund manager, whose initial fortune was
earned through dubious circumstances.
He is portrayed as being foul-mouthed
and ruthless; yet he is also practical and,
at times, even warm. Iblīs (Arabic ‫)إبليس‬,
is the name of the primary devil
(Shaitan or Satan) in Islam.
Abdul
One of Maximilian Iblis' bodyguards.
He is modeled on the character of Billy
Budd in Hermann Melville's novel of
the same name. Though he is killed in
Chapter 1, his influence persists
throughout the story.
Nina
Tomas's wife. Her character is akin to
'Gretchen' in Faust and 'Margarita' in
Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
She is both philosophical and practical;
supportive of Tomas's dreams, she also
guides him away from this obsession.
Julien
The family cat who makes an
appearance in nearly every chapter of
the Melody. He is analogous (in the
opposite sense) to the cat character,
Behemot, in Bulgakov's The Master
and Margarita.
Olga
Step-daughter of Tomas (daughter of
Nina). She personifies adolescent angst.
Ceferino Diago
Colombian drug lord who launders his
group's money through Maximilian
Iblis' hedge fund.
[edit] Harmony
Tomas Twarok
see above.
Nina
see above.
Martin Boucher
Ioannis Kostakis
Ava
Ramzi
[edit] Rhythm
With Tomas as tutor, twelve students figure among each of the twelve dialogues. He
develops a relationship with one of them (Nora); three others (Carter, Jason, and Yinglan)
make appearances (under separate circumstances) in the Melody portion of the novel.
Nigel, Jax, and Adhi
Maximilian Iblis' bodyguards. Adhi
tries to steal the technology though his
efforts are eventually thwarted.
Kashif Mahboubi
Newly installed Prime Minister of
Singapore.
Yinglan Yousuf
A deputy researcher in the Singaporean
Ministry of Defence who develops a
parallel version of the technology
(called EastStar) for military purposes.
Eleanor Shanmugam
Defence Minister for Singapore.
Elijah Mason
Fictional U.S. President who survives
an assassination attempt and grapples
with widespread financial disaster and
mysterious terror attacks.
William Madison
CIA Director.
Helga Iblis
Maximilian Iblis' mother, suffering
from advanced Alzheimer's disease. Her
mind is mentally stuck in the world of
Nazi Germany and Tomas, in an effort
to demonstrate the medical
applications of his 'Novum
Organum', hopes to cure her.
Jenna Mason
Wife of President Elijah Mason. Her
character is modeled on Lady
Macbeth from Shakespeare's
Macbeth.
Prof. Roger Williams
Marjorie Nelson
Dr. Narius Maxwell
Dr. Mohseni
Prof. William Henderson
Thiang Johnson
Kimberly Lügstein
Jacob Irgang
[edit] Other

The influence of other historical characters are present throughout Waves. These include
John F. Kennedy, Beethoven, Niels Bohr, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, and René Descartes.

[edit] Major Themes

• Science and Art • Proteins vs. DNA • The consequences
• The rational vs. (which are more of political
the imaginative important) corruption
world (dreams & • What is normal; • The underpinnings
reality) what is disease? of economic
• Existence of God • Debt bondage strength
• Good and Evil • Happiness and • Nuclear war
• Free will or Fate depression • The individual and
• The free-market • Courage and love society (individual
(equilibrium or • Teleology vs. goals vs.
non-equilibrium) deontology collective goals)
• The Platonic • East vs. West • Virtue and
psyche (logos, • How could necessity
thumos, and eros) Nazism arise? • Epistemology
and its antipodes • Genocide • The Doctor-
• Idealism vs. • Iron triangles Patient
realism Relationship

[edit] Allusions and references to other works

• Johann Wolfgang • Friedrich • Norman Mailer,
von Goethe's Nietzsche's work Miami and the
Faust and Wilhelm God is Dead Siege of Chicago
Meister's • Galileo's works (1968)
Apprenticeship The Starry • René Descartes'
• Mikhail Messenger and Il Discourse on the
Bulgakov's The Saggiatore Method
Master and • Molière's comic • Stanley Kubrick's
Margarita play Tartuffe film Full Metal
• Antoine de Saint • Shakespeare's Jacket
Exupéry's book plays King Lear, • Plato's dialogues
The Little Prince Hamlet, Richard Phaedrus and The
• Hermann II, As You Like It, Symposium
Melville's novella Julius Caesar, and • T.S. Eliot's The
Billy Budd Macbeth Wasteland
• Hippocrates • George Orwell's • Ludwig
Aphorisms novella Animal Wittgenstein's
• The movie Farm Tractatus Logico-
Untraceable • The movie Philosophicus
Apocalypse Now
 • Aeschylus' Arrowsmith and Declaration of
Prometheus Babbitt Independence
Bound • Edgar Allan Poe's • Sun Tzu's The Art
• The movie Dr. poem The Raven of War
Strangelove or: • Virgil's epic poem • David Hume's
How I Learned to The Aeneid philosophical
Stop Worrying and • Lao Tzu's Tao Te treatise An
Love the Bomb Ching Enquiry
• J. Robert • Immanuel Kant's Concerning
Oppenheimer Groundwork of Human
(various works) the Metaphysic of Understanding
• Aldous Huxley's Morals • The Shahnameh
novel Brave New • The Parable of the (Persian ‫شاهنامه‬
World Six Blind Men and ‫ )فردوسی‬of
• Arthur Miller's the Elephant Ferdowsi
play Death of a • Marcus Aurelius' • Thomas Mann's
Salesman Meditations novel The Magic
• Dante Alighieri's • Charles Schulz' Mountain
Divine Comedy Charlie Brown, • Wallace Stevens's
• Jean-Paul Sartre's Snoopy and Me novel Peter
Being and • The movie Saving Quince at the
Nothingness Private Ryan Clavier
• Miguel Cervantes' • Alexander • Rubáiyát of Omar
Don Quixote Kuprin's The Khayyam
• W.H. Auden's Bracelet of • The Bible
poem Funeral Garnets • Robert F.
Blues • Robert Bolt's play Kennedy's book
• Jonathan Swift's A Man for All Thirteen Days
novel Gulliver's Seasons • Alexander
Travels • Abraham Hamilton in The
• John Stuart Mill's Lincoln's Federalist Papers
book Gettysburg • William Carlos
Utilitarianism Address Williams
• Sinclair Lewis's • Homer collection of
novels • Thomas Jefferson poems Al Que
and the Quiere!

[edit] Musical references

This is a partial list of musical references in Waves

• Johann Sebastian Violins in D • Gustav Holst -

Bach Toccata and
Fugue in d minor
and Air on a G
String and Jesu
Joy of Man's
Desiring and
Concerto for Two
Minor BWV1043 Mercury, the
• Gustav Holst - Winged
Jupiter, the Messenger - The
Bringer of Jollity - Planets Suite
The Planets Suite • The Cure – Faith
• New Order - Blue and Other Voices
Monday • Auld Lang Syne
 • Carl Orff - O, • Stardust - The Lyndon (Stanley
Fortuna Music Sounds Kubrick)
• Frédéric Chopin - Better With You • British Grenadiers
Sonata n°2 in B- • Ludwig Van • The Eagles -
flat minor op.35, Beethoven - Piano Please Come
3rd movement Sonata n°14 Home for
Marche funèbre 'Moonlight' and Christmas
and Etude Op.10 Piano Sonata n°8 • Genesis - Follow
n°3 "Tristesse" Op.13 'Pathetique' you, follow me
• Franz Liszt - • Richard Wagner - • Giacomo Puccini -
Consolation Nn°3 The Ride Of The Nessun Dorma
• Johannes Brahms - Valkyries • Samuel Barber -
Rhapsody G minor • ZZ Top - Sharp Adagio for
op. 79 n°2 Dressed Man Strings, op.11
• U2 - Beautiful • Blues Traveler - • Emilie Autumn –
Day Run-Around Misery loves
• Patricia Kaas - • Alphaville - Big In company
Mon mec à moi Japan • Giacomo Puccini -
• Felix • Modern Talking - O mio babbino
Mendelssohn - You're My Heart caro
Octet E Flat Major You're My Soul • Sarah Brightman -
3rd movement • Tom Petty - Free Time To Say
• Johannes Brahms - Fallin' Goodbye
Piano concerto • Tracy Chapman - • The Beatles – Let
n°2. 1st Baby Can I Hold it Be
movement, and You • Gustav Holst -
Piano concerto • Hail to the Chief - Mars 'Bringer of
n°1. 1st movement United States War' - The Planets
in D minor and Presidential Suite
2nd movement in Anthem • Bryan Ferry -
D Major. • Singapore Slave to Love
• Savage Garden - National Anthem - • Joaquín Rodrigo -
Truly Madly Majulah Concierto de
Deeply Singapura Aranjuez
• Ludwig Van • Gounod-Liszt - • Kraze - The Party
Beethoven - Faust Waltz Part 1 (house)
Symphonie n°6 • David Bowie - • Little Drummer
(Pastoral), 1st Young Americans Boy
Mvt, Symphony • Hohenfriedberger • Edward Elgar -
n°9, and Egmont March by Nimrod (from
Overture Friedrich II from Enigma
the movie Barry Variations)

[edit] Scientific Concepts Discussed

• Alkanes • Blackbody • Brain Structures
• Amino Acids Radiation and Their
• Anesthesia • Bohr model Functions
• The Big Bang
• Calcium • Gibbs Free Energy primarily in the
oscillations • G protein terahertz spectrum
• Catalysts • Harmonic • Optical resolution
• Central Dogma oscillator • Ozone Depletion
• Chemical Bonding • Homeostasis • Packing Defects in
• Chemical Bonds • Hooke's Law Proteins
as springs • Hormone Action • Pathology of
• Chemical kinetics and Hormone Alzheimer's
• Chemical Types disease
reactions • Human Evolution • Peptide bond
• Cherenkov • Hydrogen bonding • Personality
Radiation • Hydrophobic vs. Disorders
• Cosmic Hydrophilic • Pharmacokinetics
Background • Induced fit /
Explorer • Infinity Pharmacodynamic
• Drug classification • Infrared s
• Condensed Phases spectroscopy • Planck Law and
• Cosmic • Insulin and the the basic Planck
microwave insulin receptor Equation
background • Infrared radiation • Planetary motions
radiation • Krypton binding • Polar vs. nonpolar
• Cranial nerves to Proteins • Polarizability
• Definition of • Lobes of the • Portal venous
terahertz radiation Cerebral Cortex systems
• Diabetes • London • Proteins as
• DNA vs. Proteins Dispersion Forces transmitters
• Drug design • Maxwell- • Protein
• Drugs acting on Boltzmann Crystallography
proteins Distribution • Protein folding
• Electromagnetic • Microwaves • Protein normal
Spectrum • Modulating modes
• EM Radiation and protein function • Protein secondary
biology with terahertz structure
• Endocrine axis radiation • Protein translation
• Entropy • The Mpemba • Proteins as
• Epilepsy effect flexible molecules
• Control theory and • Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase • Proteins as
feedback control • Neuromuscular receivers
systems Junction • Proteins
• First Law of • Newton's First communicating
Thermodynamics Law • Radio waves
• Formation of • Newton's Law of • Radioactive Decay
electromagnetic Gravitation • Reaction energy
waves • Newton's Second profiles
• Formation of Law • Receptor
Waves • Newton's Third activation
• Fundamental Law • Resonant
Forces • Normal Modes of frequencies
• Gamma Rays proteins being • Second Law of
Thermodynamics
 • Selection rules • Terahertz for • UV Radiation
• Serotonin medicine • van der Waals
• Signal • Thermodynamics Forces
transduction • Transition states in • The
• Specific and kinetics Vestibulocochlear
General Force • Trigonometry nerve
Laws • Forces • Visible light
• Spectroscopy • Types of proteins • Properties of
• DNA structure • Types of Waves Water
• Terahertz Gap • Using terahertz • Water and Life
• Terahertz based radiation for • Basic Wave
forces Alzheimer's Equation
• Terahertz for disease • X-rays
[[mind reading]| • Using terahertz
mind-reading] radiation for
Diagnosis

[edit] References
[edit] Notes

1. ^ Originally publicly released on Scribd on November 8, 2008. Published on the

Amazon Kindle on February 5, 2009. The publication dates are important as they
date the public release of the scientific ideas outlined in the book rendering these
concepts (for the purposes of intellectual property law) as being 'Prior Art' and
thus unpatentable and available for public use.

[edit] Book information

Waves by Ogan Gurel

• E-Book (2009, First edition) Available on the Amazon Kindle

[edit] External links

• eBook site including reader reviews
• Facebook discussion group for Waves
• Scribd discussion group for Waves

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waves_(novel)"

Categories: 2009 novels | American novels | Thriller novels | Psychological novels |
Science fiction novels | Terahertz technology | Molecular dynamics