SQL Query - Banging My Head

Question

I've been struggling with this for a couple of days and could use some help -
I have 3 tables
Books (with an ID and Title)
Authors (with a Book_Link and a Name)
Publications (with a Book_Link and a Publication_Date)
Each book can have 0 or more authors. Each book can have 0 or more publications. I ultimately need a report that shows
Book Title/Author Name/Publication Date
So, let's say there are 3 books (ID/Title)
#1 - Book One
#2 - Book Two
#3 - Book Three
Book One has 2 authors and 3 publication dates.
Book Two has 1 author and 1 publication date
Book Three has no authors or publication dates.
With regular joins, I get:
Book One - Author 1A - Pub Date 1-1
Book One - Author 1A - Pub Date 1-2
Book One - Author 1A - Pub Date 1-3
Book One - Author 1B - Pub Date 1-1
Book One - Author 1B - Pub Date 1-2
Book One - Author 1B - Pub Date 1-3
Book One - Author 1C - Pub Date 1-1
Book One - Author 1C - Pub Date 1-2
Book One - Author 1C - Pub Date 1-3
Book Two - Author 2A - Pub Date 2-1
Book Three - null - null
What I need to report to my user is:
Book One - Author 1A - Pub Date 1-1
Book One - Author 1B - Pub Date 1-2
Book One - null - Pub Date 3
Book Two - Author 2A - Pub Date 2-1
Book Three - null - null
I am using Apex so any functions or whatnot would be helpful.
One other condition - this is a query that I am building dynamically, based on the user selecting which fields they want reported on. So any solution needs to account for the fact that the select statement and whatnot need to be constructed as string.
Thanks.

Answer 1

ID    TITLE
1     Book One
2     Book Two
3     Book Three
BOOK_LINK    NAME
1                     Author 1A
1                     Author 1B
2                     Author 2A
BOOK_LINK     PUBLICATION_DATE
1                      01-JAN-07
1                      02-JAN-07
1                      03-JAN-07
2                      01-JAN-07
create or replace function udf_GetAuthorsForBook( Book in int)
RETURN varchar2
IS
authorArr htmldb_application_global.vc_arr2;
authorList varchar(2000);
i integer :=1;
BEGIN
  null;
  for r in (select name
            from authors
            where authors.book_link = Book
            order by name)
  loop
    authorArr(i) := r.name;
    i := i +1;
  end loop;
  authorList := htmldb_util.table_to_string( authorArr, ', ' );
  return authorList;
END;
create or replace function udf_GetPublicationsForBook( Book in int)
RETURN varchar2
IS
publArr htmldb_application_global.vc_arr2;
publList varchar(2000);
i integer :=1;
BEGIN
  null;
  for r in (select publication_date
            from publications
            where publications.book_link = Book
            order by publication_date)
  loop
    publArr(i) := r.publication_date;
    i := i +1;
  end loop;
  publList := htmldb_util.table_to_string( publArr, ', ' );
  return publList;
END;select id, title, udf_GetAuthorsForBook(id), udf_GetPublicationsForBook(id) from books
ID    TITLE             AUTHORS                       PUBLICATIONS
1       Book One      Author 1A, Author 1B        01-JAN-07, 02-JAN-07, 03-JAN-07
2       Book Two      Author 2A                         01-JAN-07
3       Book Three    -                                        -