difficult select problem

I've searched the web, the tutorials, etc. with no luck and have asked on MySql list with no luck and have even posted here with no replies. So, let's try again: I am trying to limit the search for books to only those that start with "A" (does not have to be case sensitive); but within that selection there may be a second author whose name may start with any letter of the alphabet. So, the real problem is to find if there is a second author in the selection of books and to display that name. My query shows all the books that begin with A: $SQL = "SELECT b.*, c.publisher, a.first_name, a.last_name FROM book AS b LEFT JOIN book_publisher as bp ON b.id = bp.bookID LEFT JOIN publishers AS c ON bp.publishers_id = c.id LEFT JOIN book_author AS ba ON b.id = ba.bookID LEFT JOIN author AS a ON ba.authID = a.id WHERE LEFT(last_name, 1 ) = '$Auth' "; Within the results there are some books that have 2 authors and now I have to find if there is a second author in the results and then be able to echo the second author. So far, I have not been able to figure out how to go about that. Do I need to do another query to find the second author or can it somehow be incorporated into the original query? Or can it be done with a UNION ? Please help. -- unheralded genius: "A clean desk is the sign of a dull mind. " ------------------------------------------------------------- Phil Jourdan --- pj@ptahhotep.com http://www.ptahhotep.com http://www.chiccantine.com/andypantry.php