WHO WILL BE THE
FIRST IMMORTAL?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James L. Halperin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 31, 1952. He attended Middlesex School, Concord, Mass. from 1966 to 1970. English was his worst subject. He was pretty much a math and economics geek, and entrepreneur, and was elected business manager of his senior class.He ran businesses throughout his childhood: neighborhood circuses, astronomy shows, published comic books, mail order sales, Beatles fan magazines, school snack bar, etc. He formed a rare coin (numismatic) business, part-time, in 1968 at age 15.
He received early acceptance to Harvard College and attended 1970-1971, majoring in Psychology and then switching to philosophy. He took a permanent leave of absence after three semesters to pursue a full-time numismatic career.
A futurist and a believer in the power of technology, Jim purchased the rare coin business's first mainframe computer from IBM in 1975, hired programmers, then funneled much of his own efforts into designing the systems. It worked. By 1980, his tiny, seven-person coin company had become the largest in the world. ($50 million annual sales, 200 employees.)
He moved to Dallas in 1982 to form a 50/50 partnership with Steve Ivy, a former rival. The company, Heritage Rare Coin Galleries, is now the world's largest and most successful numismatic company, with nine offices throughout Europe and North America, and annual sales in excess of $140 million. Jim now considers himself "a struggling novelist with a really good day job!"
He has been married to Gayle Ziaks (MFA, Asst. Professor of Dance) since 1984, and is the father of two young sons, David (b.1991) and Michael (b.1995).
In 1987, he authored How to Grade U.S. Coins, a highly-acclaimed, landmark text. The Truth Machine, his first attempt at fiction (he had never even written a short story before), became a national science fiction bestseller, and is now being translated into half a dozen foreign languages and developed as a Warner Brothers feature film. But Jim is proudest of the countless letters he receives from previously unmotivated teenagers, who, after reading The Truth Machine and discovering the link between technology and the human condition, have become inspired to study (and often pursue careers in) science.
His second novel is The First Immortal, which was published in early 1998, and is slated to air as a CBS/Hallmark miniseries. Jim published his e-mail address in that book, and invited readers to notify him of any scientific or factual errors. (About two dozen have been discovered so far, and will be corrected in the paperback version.) In the course of researching The First Immortal, Jim signed up to be frozen cryonically upon his own death.
His third novel, Beginner's Luck: the Assassination of Adolf Hitler, is a historical novel now being edited for publication, probably in 1999.
He endows a health education foundation, which supports dozens of charities and which has, among other projects, sponsored a nationwide anti-smoking poster contest for public school children. The contest received over two million entries.
All royalties from The First Immortal, after expenses, will be donated to various health- and education-related causes.
You can e-mail Jim Halperin at jim@heritagecoin.com