To hear Christopher Buckley tell it, a surefire way of knowing he has a new book out is to check the headlines — for a huge, unrelated news story that fills acres of newsprint and eats up hours of television time.

Before dismissing Buckley as a just another paranoid author, consider that the economic meltdown bumped him from a round of talk shows where he planned to promote his latest political satire, “Supreme Courtship.”