Wow, this is an interesting one. Do you see the same results when viewing the component as an admin user versus an anonymous or non-admin user?
I ask because I wonder if it has to do with the visibility of one or more of the roles by normal/unauthenticated users.
I'm curious if you will see anything different if you call the commonFunctionUtils.executeLiQLQuery function as an admin. For eample:
<#assign authors = commonFunctionUtils.executeLiQLQuery(authorQuery, false, true) />
Just spitballin' here, so it may not pan out, but I figured I'd make the suggestion just in case.
Good luck!
