Vold Book’s Cometa Minor: A Novel
— Set to Music —
The full 11-hour album is streaming now on Apple Music, TIDAL, Amazon Music and more.
“Idea-rich and intriguing … builds a mythology around concepts of grief and control … a literary novel with cosmological stakes.” - Foreword Clarion Reviews, ★★★★☆
“Trautman's novel details an expansive realm and many characters across its narrative strands ... The novel's structure is cleverly replicated by the in-story puzzle box architecture—readers will be kept guessing by this pacy novel.” - Kirkus Reviews
Where to buy and listen:
Cometa Minor is a 94-track concept album / novel:
When political upheaval strikes a hidden forest commune on a distant planet from another age, the clash rings throughout the cosmos with unexpectedly far-reaching consequences that transcend both space and time. With inspiration drawn from Coelho’s THE ALCHEMIST grafted onto the lineage of Orwell’s NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, Vold Book’s COMETA MINOR weaves spiritual and philosophical conviction into a shield of defense, in an attempt to protect our shared future from the tyranny of apocalypse. Musical influences include The Smashing Pumpkins, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead. John T. Trautman wrote the story and performs the music and narration.
The text and music of Cometa Minor were written and performed without AI. The illustrations in the illustrated paperback and the Ring Gravity video were made with AI tools.
Available separately:
ALBUM (music & narration w/ track separation - lossless)
AUDIOBOOK (music & narration w/ chapter separation - mp3)
PAPERBACK, Illustrated (30+ b&w Midjourney illustrations)
PAPERBACK (no illustrations)
EBOOK (no illustrations)
$2.99 on Kindle
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Hear a selection:
Author photo by Carolyn Trautman
John T. Trautman is a musician & novelist releasing work under the moniker Vold Book. Since 2014, he has published around 600 original musical compositions. In 2018, he began to experiment with spoken word over music following a period of disillusionment with the limitations placed on lyrics by melody.
Also in 2018, he began work on VOLD BOOK’S COMETA MINOR, the final culmination of the briefly published STARA DETENTE (2026) and OCEANS OF CURTAINS (2025) project.
He holds a B.A. in Philosophy, A.S. in Engineering, and currently resides on the central coast of California.