Dallas executive pays $58,750 for lunch, yoga class and a show with Oprah Winfrey

Dallas, Texas: A Dallas business executive is paying $58,750 to have lunch with Oprah Winfrey, join her at a yoga class and get a backstage pass to her popular television program. James L. Halperin, a best-selling science fiction author and co-chairman of Heritage Rare Coin Galleries. of Dallas, the country's largest rare coin dealership, was the top bidder this past weekend during an on-line charity auction conducted by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to raise money for Oprah's Angel Network. The money will aid disaster victims.

"When I learned about the auction, I knew right away I was going to bid. I'm a part-time novelist, and of course every novelist wants to meet Oprah," explained Halperin, referring to Winfrey's efforts to encourage viewers to read specific books.

"What is even more compelling to me is that she and I support the exact same causes. In fact, I donate 100 percent of my book royalties, a little over a half million dollars so far, to disaster relief and health- and education-related charities. Oprah's Angel Network focuses on Habitat for Humanity, college scholarships and disaster relief - causes I was planning to contribute to again anyway. Now I get to meet Oprah for no extra charge!"

In addition to being one of the country's foremost experts on rare coins, Halperin has authored two novels, The Truth Machine, a futuristic story about the race to develop a fool-proof lie-detector and its effect once unleashed on society, and The First Immortal, which is in part a sequel to The Truth Machine. Both were national science fiction (and Amazon.com) best-sellers, and in development as films at Warner Brothers and Hallmark Entertainment respectively.

Halperin's winning bid was $42,100 for a lunch date with Winfrey and her best friend Gayle King. The meal will be prepared by Winfrey's personal chef. Bidding for the "Lunch With Oprah" started at $1,000 and Halperin topped 84 other bids in the auction.

In separate auction bidding, he paid $6,550 to participate in a workout class with Winfrey and her Harpo yoga class, and $10,100 for two backstage passes to her Chicago-based talk show.

"If Oprah likes me and decides to read either novel, she might even plug it on the air. Then I'd get to donate even more money to those charities," explained Halperin.