The last, 'Ramadan', was double length as a special issue for Sandman #50. Three of the issues making up the 'Distant Mirrors' group were published between the 'Season of Mists' and 'A Game of You' story arcs. These issues all take their name from months ('Thermidor', 'August', 'Three Septembers and a January' and 'Ramadan'). The book contains four tales under the banner of 'Distant Mirrors', which are about emperors and the nature of power. It is preceded by A Game of You and followed by Brief Lives. The most conspicuous exception is the story 'Orpheus', originally printed as the one-shot Sandman Special, which is central to the main story of the series. Most of the stories do not contribute directly to the overall story arc of the series on a textual level but rather comment on its themes and provide subtext. Like the third collection ( Dream Country), and the eighth ( Worlds' End), Fables and Reflections is a collection of short one-issue stories. The collection first appeared in paperback and hardback in 1993.

The issues in the collection first appeared in 1991, 19. The introduction is written by Gene Wolfe. Craig Russell, Shawn McManus, John Watkiss, Jill Thompson, Duncan Eagleson, Kent Williams, Mark Buckingham, Vince Locke and Dick Giordano, coloured by Daniel Vozzo and Lovern Kindzierski/ Digital Chameleon, and lettered by Todd Klein. It was written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Bryan Talbot, Stan Woch, P. Fables & Reflections (1993) is an American fantasy comic book, the sixth collection of issues in the DC Comics series The Sandman.

The Sandman Vol. 3 by Neil Gaiman