Dystopias can take many shapes. They can turn up in highly advanced societies and in places where widely available electricity is a distant memory for many. They can be a pervasive presence in the lives of their population, or they can be subtler, a haunting reminder of oppressive societal constraints. Here’s a look at eleven different dystopian novels from writers across the globe. They span a wide array of possible futures, and range in tone from the futuristic to the familiar. But all of them raise questions and alarms about the present moment, and how certain familiar tendencies circa now can evolve into something horrifying.

The nature of music writing over the years is one of constant change and evolution, one which the anthology Shake It Up: Great American Writing on Rock and Pop from Elvis to Jay-Z seems uniquely able to document. Editors Jonathan Lethem and Kevin Dettmar begin their introduction with a statement of purpose: “Fifty selections from fifty writers covering approximately fifty years of American rock and pop writing: it’s an elegant conceit, you’ve got to admit.” But a closer look at the work included in the anthology also tells a second story–one about how music has been and continues to be written about, and how music writing has evolved over the years.