People love The Mountain Goats because all their songs contain SAT vocab words and are like little stories. So it’s unsurprising that John Darnielle can also work up some music-free compositions, like his contribution to Continuum‘s 33 1/3 series of books inspired by classic albums, a novel about Black Sabbath’s ‘Master of Reality.’ He also recently wrapped up a stint of guest blogging at Powell’s excellent blog, which is worth revisiting if you’re curious about his feelings about heavy metal (he likes it! and is very knowledgable about it!). And if you live in New York, you can come to a reading of the Black Sabbath book next Saturday at Housing Works and witness his non-singing talents in person.