Overview
Current Affairs is a novel by Cairo Smith. It follows Calvin Munn, an Iowa-born designer in New York whose ambitions carry him through wealthy real-estate circles, political branding, defense-media work, and an unresolved attachment to Madeline Payne.
The novel is set primarily in New York, with major sections in Iowa, Honolulu, and Nashville. Its social and romantic plot develops alongside a fictional geopolitical crisis involving RINIC, an adversary bloc whose Pacific actions reshape Calvin’s work and public life.
Current Affairs is available through Amazon.
Plot
Calvin begins the novel nearing thirty on a Honolulu veranda with Madeline Payne, then the narrative returns to their first meeting as teenagers in Iowa and to Calvin’s early attempt to build a design career in New York. He attends Velram Academy of Art and Design, struggles after graduation, works under Clarissa Kim at Paul Abram, and finds a larger opening through Arthur Sedki, a developer whose household renovation leads Calvin into Sedki Development Group.
Arthur hires Calvin for work connected to Proposal 1, a New York ballot measure later branded through Calvin’s Amenity campaign. Arthur’s daughter Rebecca Sedki draws Calvin into No-Fly, a Lower Manhattan art-rave space, and into a friend group that includes Imogene Schmidt, Clint Prescott and Misha Novak, and other young New York creatives. Calvin and Rebecca begin dating, but Rebecca’s earlier and continuing attraction to Imogene becomes a recurring pressure on the relationship.
After Proposal 1 passes, Harrison Martingale brings Calvin into the New Liberals Institute, where Calvin develops the American Vitality identity. Madeline re-enters Calvin’s life during a New York visit, then becomes engaged to Judson Payne, a rising country musician. Calvin and Rebecca break up, reconcile at Madeline and Judson’s wedding, move into the Rivington Street apartment, and marry in a Sahidic ceremony arranged through the Sedki family.
Calvin’s career expands through Martingale’s reelection work and then collapses at NLI after Donovan Johnson discovers the concealed campaign work. Rebecca cuts her hair, tells Calvin she thinks she is gay, and asks him to keep her sexuality secret from her parents. Their marriage shifts into an unstable private arrangement that includes Calvin’s involvement with Laura Bander, while Calvin pursues classified work at The MILPREP Corporation under Vincent Becker and clears a DCSA investigation led by Gabriel McKenrick.
At MILPREP, Calvin reads and supervises screen-media projects meant to support defense messaging. His work brings him to weapons demonstrations, a film shoot, and finally Pearl Harbor, where he assists Dutch documentary director Jasper van der Vliet during the aftermath of the Daniel Inouye attack. Madeline comes to Honolulu, reveals that she is pregnant by Judson, and remains with him for the baby, while Calvin later ends his marriage to Rebecca for reasons he insists are not reducible to Madeline.
After leaving MILPREP, Calvin returns to Martingale’s office and overhears evidence that Martingale is compromised by a RINIC-linked woman. Calvin reports the matter to McKenrick. When the USNS Mercy attack intensifies the crisis, Becker asks Calvin to speak at a Hudson Yards rally for the crew and families. Martingale fires Calvin after Calvin refuses to remain aligned with the office’s anti-mobilization messaging.
At the rally, Calvin discovers a hidden backpack bomb inside the lectern just as Becker introduces him. He warns Becker, but the bomber detonates the device before the men can escape. Calvin survives the Hudson Yards bombing with severe injuries and amputations. In the hospital he learns that Becker survived, Martingale has been arrested, and RINIC may be moving toward restitution. Madeline arrives in New York with her infant son William after separating from Judson, and she and Calvin acknowledge the years they wasted before beginning a new relationship.
Publication
Current Affairs was published by Askari and released on December 6, 2025. The Askari listing gives the length as 326 pages.