Did you use the
opf:file-as attribute in the .opf to specify the sort order?
E.g.
PHP Code:
<dc:creator opf:file-as="Smithee, Alan et al">Alan Smithee et al</dc:creator>
BTW, I don't recall ever seeing
at al in Scfi anthologies. AFAIK,
at al is mostly used in scientific books and papers.