By Mara der Hovanesian
Ever since grammar school, Matilde Steck has been worried about our planet. Like the rest of her generation, the 17-year-old Yonkers student has been bombarded by news of extreme weather, fires and drought, melting icecaps and loss of biodiversity. What could be in store besides a catastrophic and bleak future? “I’ve had panic attacks since the fifth grade,” said Steck. “I had a very strong sense of not doing enough, and it’s really overwhelming. It feels like we are facing an inevitable dystopia and the people who can change it aren’t doing anything about it.”
The connection between climate change and eco-anxiety in youth is today the subject of rigorous academic study and has caught the attention of mental health professionals all over the world. Most kids simply feel powerless to influence policy or make an impact—but that’s where Matilde stands apart.
The Yonkers Middle High School senior and Sci-Fi buff has harnessed both her concern and creativity to write her first book: The Call, a futuristic novel about environmental activism, and the first in a series of three. Steck has self-published and self-marketed the book on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram and sold over 100 copies in its debut week on Amazon.com.
The Call is set in a theoretical world 160 years in the future after earth has experienced “a full environmental collapse.”
For 90 years, the world lived in what Steck describes as “The Crisis” during which scientists were sequestered to come up with solutions for human existence, including other planets to colonize. By the book’s opening scene, it is already common to live in other planets. One such planet, Janus, is home to the first alien species with human level intelligence. Unfortunately, the native inhabitants are still in a so-called Stone Age phase and are weak against exploitation by stronger forces. Steck’s protagonist, Arthur Keene, was raised on Janus oblivious to the oppression, but at 19 years old is thrust into social and political conflict with the local mining company, corrupt government officials and even his own father. A counter movement rises after Keene brings his concerns into the public eye.
“This isn’t typical YA revolution,” she explains. “This is found family meets honest activism. Young people are a huge demographic. We have a voice and an impact. If we choose to thrift or not use single-use plastic, that will signal to companies what they should do. We can have an impact as a consumer and as a citizen.”
Steck’s father got her hooked on the science fiction genre in 9th grade when he gave her an out-of-print paperback called Great Stories of Space Travel. The 1970’s dime store collection included a short story from the late science fiction writer Lester Del Ray called On the Wings of Night; its characters decide not to exploit an alien species. “But what if they did,” Matilde Steck wondered. “That question hit me at the right time of my life, and I got stuck on it, in a good way. That’s where it started.”
Setting out to write a short story of 20 pages, Steck “just kind of kept going and that turned into 50 pages,” and eventually she wound up with two 70,000-word books; the third installment is in the works. The characters, Steck says, “took on a life of their own” and she was often surprised at what they said or how they dealt with situations.
A volunteer at the Bronx Botanical Gardens, Steck’s college goals are to study environmental science or law, with a possible minor in journalism. Practical skills will help support her science fiction writing, she says. While a lot of the themes in her first novel are futuristic, they are also highly relevant today: “There is a very clear message of corporate accountability. I hope to make people see that this is how change can happen by young people,” she says.
The book is available on Amazon.com as a paperback or digital download. For more about the book, follow Matilde on Instagram at @mquinns_ or on Tick Tock at @mquinns.
