[eschwartz]

You can also make it conditional on whether or not the series is there.
http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/temp...l-program-mode

But it is still dependent on having tags or series.

program:

series_formatted = strcat(
		finish_formatting(
			field('series'),
			'',
			'',
			''
		),
		finish_formatting(
			field('series_index'),
			'0>3s',
			' ',
			''
		)
	);

# Main
strcat(
	field('author_sort'),
	finish_formatting(
		ifempty(
			series_formatted,
			uppercase(field('tags'))
		),
		'',
		', - ',
		''
	)
)

Junger, Sebastian, - CONTEMPORARY, CREATIVE NONFICTION

Or, if the book was in a series:
Junger, Sebastian, - Andrea Gail 001

Or if there is no tags OR series:
Sebastian Junger