To read the illustrated book: Click here.
To play the soundtrack for all songs: Click here.
For best viewing of the BOOK we recommend using an internet-connected device with the largest screen.
To hear the SONGS, open the soundtrack link above on your phone or other device. (You can also open both book and soundtrack links on the same device and simply toggle between them each time a song appears in the story.)
To move to each next page of the book: click or swipe on the right side.
As you read the book an indicator (2 eighth notes) tells you each time a new song begins, with the track number and name of the song listed below.
- Click on the specified song track and listen, while continuing to read the book.
- When each song track ends: continue reading the book until the next song is indicated.
THE STORY:
NOTE: This story includes graphic descriptions of nuclear warfare and thus is not recommended for children & youth under age 16.
The time is the near future, when the world is suffering from war, famine, disease, and the effects of climate change. Meanwhile, the god Zeuss (spelled like Dr. Seuss) has gone mad and some of the other gods escape his violence by moving to Mt Tahoma (Mt Rainier). There they create a Ribbon of Peace each year and add it to the annual, global art event wherein people create decorated fabric panels to express their desire for peace and then tie them together (The Ribbon was an actual event in 1985).
Venus, Goddess of Love and Kitchen Gardens, and an avatar of all women, and her sister Diana go on a backpack trip to deliver the Ribbon from Mt Tahoma to the Ribbonalia festival. After they arrive in The City (Seattle), they realize Venus has lost their Ribbon and she must go back to the forest to find it. While she searches, goddesses and gods work with mortals to thwart the growing threat of global war. Meanwhile, thousands of women from around the world gather at the U.N. to confront heads of state about the prospect of nuclear annihilation.
Before Venus and Diana left Mt Tahoma, goddesses and witches had cast a spell to alchemize the worst aspects of humanity into something of beauty. Now, on the eve of the Global Ribbon Tying, some of the gods cast a spell to banish the Demon of War from earth. In the aftermath of that spellcasting, Venus has an out-of-body experience wherein she realizes where the Ribbon is that she’s been searching for: while she had all along assumed it was stolen from her by Mars, God of War, the truth is she was not paying attention to what’s most important (protecting the Ribbon of Peace) and had simply left it behind at home!
In the final scene/song, Ribbons are tied together around the world and Venus, Goddess of Love, delivers the final link that creates World Peace! Hooray!