diff --git a/comicvinecacher.py b/comicvinecacher.py
index 61e7c55..868aa0a 100644
--- a/comicvinecacher.py
+++ b/comicvinecacher.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import datetime
 
 import ctversion
 from settings import ComicTaggerSettings
+import utils
 
 class ComicVineCacher:
 
@@ -97,6 +98,13 @@ class ComicVineCacher:
 							"PRIMARY KEY (id) )" 
 						)
 
+			cur.execute("CREATE TABLE AltCovers(" +
+							"issue_id INT," +
+							"url_list TEXT," +
+							"timestamp DATE DEFAULT (datetime('now','localtime')), " + 
+							"PRIMARY KEY (issue_id) )" 
+						)
+
 			cur.execute("CREATE TABLE Issues(" +
 							"id INT," +
 							"volume_id INT," +
@@ -150,7 +158,7 @@ class ComicVineCacher:
 								url,
 								record['description']) 
 							)
-							
+			
 	def get_search_results( self, search_term ):
 		
 		results = list()
@@ -185,7 +193,47 @@ class ComicVineCacher:
 				
 		return results
 
+	def add_alt_covers( self, issue_id, url_list ):
+		
+		con = lite.connect( self.db_file )
 
+		with con:
+			con.text_factory = unicode					
+			cur = con.cursor()    
+			
+			# remove all previous entries with this search term
+			cur.execute("DELETE FROM AltCovers WHERE issue_id = ?", [ issue_id ])
+			
+			url_list_str = utils.listToString(url_list)
+			# now add in new record				
+			cur.execute("INSERT INTO AltCovers " +
+						"(issue_id, url_list ) " +
+						"VALUES( ?, ? )" ,
+							( issue_id,
+							url_list_str) 
+						)
+
+
+	def get_alt_covers( self, issue_id ):
+		
+		con = lite.connect( self.db_file )
+		with con:
+			cur = con.cursor() 
+			con.text_factory = unicode					
+			
+			# purge stale issue info - probably issue data won't change much....
+			a_month_ago = datetime.datetime.today()-datetime.timedelta(days=30)
+			cur.execute( "DELETE FROM AltCovers WHERE timestamp  < ?", [ str(a_month_ago) ] )
+			
+			cur.execute("SELECT url_list FROM AltCovers WHERE issue_id=?", [ issue_id ])
+			row = cur.fetchone()
+			if row is None :
+				return None
+			else:
+				url_list_str = row[0]
+				url_list = url_list_str.split(",")
+				return url_list
+			
 	def add_volume_info( self, cv_volume_record ):
 		
 		con = lite.connect( self.db_file )
diff --git a/comicvinetalker.py b/comicvinetalker.py
index a77c87c..02ffa70 100644
--- a/comicvinetalker.py
+++ b/comicvinetalker.py
@@ -386,6 +386,14 @@ class ComicVineTalker(QObject):
 		cvc.add_issue_select_details( issue_id, image_url, thumb_url, month, year, page_url )
 		
 	def fetchAlternateCoverURLs(self, issue_id):
+
+		# before we search online, look in our cache, since we might already
+		# have this info
+		cvc = ComicVineCacher( )
+		url_list = cvc.get_alt_covers( issue_id )
+		if url_list is not None:
+			return url_list
+
 		issue_page_url = self.fetchIssuePageURL( issue_id )
 		
 		# scrape the CV issue page URL to get the alternate cover URLs 
@@ -403,6 +411,10 @@ class ComicVineTalker(QObject):
 				c = d['class']
 				if 'content-pod' in c and 'alt-cover' in c:
 					alt_cover_url_list.append( d.img['src'] )
+					
+		# cache this alt cover URL list
+		cvc.add_alt_covers( issue_id, alt_cover_url_list )
+					
 		return alt_cover_url_list
 					
 	#---------------------------------------------------------------------------