Associate Editor Justin Ravitz recently spoke with Terri Jentz about her new book Strange Piece of Paradise

1) Now that the book is set for release and you're talking with the media, are you worried/curious about the response of critics, the public, perhaps fellow crime victims? What about the response of those involved: your old friend/fellow victim Shayna, your attacker, the hundreds of people you met and interviewed?

I've been worrying for weeks about absolutely everyone's reaction. I have to keep consoling myself with a quote from May Sarton that I've carried with me for a long time, although I've forgotten what work it's from: "At some point I believe one has to stop holding back for fear of alienating some imaginary reader or real relative or friend, and come out with personal truth. If we are to understand the human condition, and if we are to accept ourselves in all the complexity....we have to know all we can about each other, and we have to be willing to go naked."

2) Tell me more about the many years in between the attack and when you finally decided to return to Bend and investigate the crime yourself. What finally inspired you to do this?

The event was one defining moment that changed my life forever. Only I didn't figure that out until fifteen years had passed, after a period where, I didn't ignore it exactly, but I refused to acknowledge its importance in my life. For one thing, I noticed a deadening of my earlier vitality. I was learning that I was paying for what I had surpressed. I didn't know it then, but I was suffering from the classic symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. So in 1992 I decided to return to Oregon to look into what happened the night of June 22, 1977. Suddenly I wanted to know: Who did it? How does this violent event make sense in my life? The material I gathered became a book and the book became the vehicle, both to stretch myself as an artist, and to work out my issues as a victim.

3) So many locals opened up to in startling detail about the Cline Falls attack--yet no one ever came forward with some very vital information about your alleged attacker. What do you think accounts for this?

If I can boil down this complex mystery to one simple explanation: the citizens were waiting for police to take care of it, and the police were waiting for the citizenry to call in tips. I myself did not call police in the late seventies to make sure they would hold my attacker accountable. So I suppose I was behaving as passively as many citizens in that community. We all needed to take more action. The police, the citizens, and include myself.

4) Do you think this crime and its lack of resolution could have happened anywhere else but in America? Why or why not?

I certainly do think it could happen elsewhere than in America. I work with an organization that works to stop violence against women worldwide, Equality Now, and the head of that organization wrote in response to my book: "So many of the cases we take up echo the same call for justice, too often unheard, and in so many different cultures, the similarity of police indifference/incompetence/corruption leading to a culture of impunity seems strikingly universal." (I want to emphasize that she is referring to the police reaction to my case in '77).

5) You're also a screenwriter. So many of your memories, your encounters and how you piece together your attack are visual; the mythology of the American West, bolstered by images in film, literature and pop culture, figures heavily into your initial bike trip and all your subsequent visits to Central Oregon. Would you ever conceive of a film adaptation of this book?

I promise that a film will be made of this book. Way back in 1992, I started this endeavor as a screenplay and soon it became clear to me that the story was too complex to fit into the rigid parameters of a two-hour film, and I began my book. This summer I face the task of pulling threads out of this huge tapestry to weave into a simpler story that will work in film. I'm really looking forward to refreshing my artistic task by taking fictional liberties with my own history.

6) One of the most shocking details of your attempted murder is Oregon's old statute of limitations, which prevents your attacker from ever serving time. Are there similar laws throughout the country? Any idea if there's any movement to reform this?

In the 90s I did some research on a random sample of a few states, and found that their statute of limitation for attempted murder was as little as three years, or five years-- and in a few states, there was no time limitation. I don't know whether these same states with narrow time limits have changed since I looked into it. My understanding is that generally it takes someone to put a face on the issue before the pressure builds to change.

7) Once book promotion's over, what's your next move? Where do you go from here?

I have multitude of film and book projects backed up. I'm so eager for the day when I have time to dig into them. Then I'll know instinctively which projects to give priority to, and I'll be launched into the next cycle of my artistic life.

8) Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the Cline Falls Attack. Do you have any kind of ritual on June 22? Do you still think about the attack on a daily basis?

While I was investigating the story in the 90s I had a kind of informal ritual on June 22, but it's been years now that I've even taken notice of the day when it arrives. By exploring the event so deeply I have neutralized that day. I certainly don't think of the attack on a daily basis. Of course the bonds I have forged in the course of my investigation, and the learning I have done, inform me every moment of every day.

9) Do you pay attention to violent crimes as they're reported in the media? Do you consider yourself an activist like your friends Bob and Dee Kouns (whose daughter, Valerie, was murdered)?

I do pay attention to violent crimes as reported in the American media, although not with the same scrutiny as I once did. Yes, I absolutely consider myself an activist. I've volunteered for the Rape and Battering Hotline of the feminist organization, Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women -- and as I said, I'm a major supporter of Equality Now, which has been effective in helping eradicate rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation, honor killings, among other human rights abuses against women all over the world.

10) Why do you think your attacker spared your life and Shayna's?

I don't think my attacker did spare Shayna's life. He had to know he killed her when he saw her head wound. He did know that he left me alive, and why he left me alive is one of the central mysteries of my story. I don't think we'll ever know for certain. I don't think even he knows.

11) In the course of your extensive research and frequent visit over several years, you found another home of sorts, a community of friends, confidantes and protectors, among the people of Central Oregon. Do you keep in touch with anyone there? Have you returned to the area for visits unrelated to your investigation?

The criss-crossing of my fate with that of others in that Central Oregon community and in the Willamette Valley is a central theme of my book. My connections to many of those people provided a nourishment that still sustains me. I consider Boo, the woman who rescued me, and Dee Dee Kouns, members of my immediate family. I have many other friends there too with whom I will stay in touch for a lifetime-- I can say I lead a parallel existence in Central Oregon. I even consider myself part of history there.