They don't make novelists like Wilbur Smith anymore. In fact, they don't make anyone quite like Wilbur Smith.
Now 76, he speaks with a candid lack of concern for 21st-century political correctness. Although this occasionally threatens to land him in trouble (on the topic of race, for instance), it is more often entertaining than controversial.
Take the subject of sex scenes. A younger writer might answer a question with a drily ironic discussion of innuendo and political suitability. Not Wilbur. Ask him about sex scenes and you're treated to a full-frontal Barry White of a response. 'I suppose as a youngster I was a dirty young boy,' he says in his sonorous South African drawl. 'Today, I would be a dirty old man. I'm interested in the opposite sex. Not only the bedding and humping, but because they're fascinating creatures. It's like playing chess with Bobby Fischer. I haven't got a chance against ... the little devils.'
Bedding and humping certainly raise their heads in Assegai, the latest instalment of his canon of African novels. One memorable character is a stern German princess whose hobbies include hunting and sado-masochism. Slightly less intimidating is Eva, the story's alluring enigma, who captivates not only our hero, Leon Courtney, but Smith as well.
'I love women,' Smith reiterates. 'I love everything about them. The way they smell, the feel of their hair, the special timbre of their voices. So I love writing about sex. If I showed you some of the sex scenes that were originally in Assegai I'd be banned in Scandinavia.'
These views seem unlikely to earn Smith a place in Germaine Greer's heart. Instead, they speak of a best-selling author fashioned during the 1970s and 80s, when giants such as Frederick Forsyth, Jack Higgins, Arthur Hailey and Robert Ludlum polished the golden age of the literary blockbuster. Smith's action-packed stories of sex, shooting and safaris were populated by real men equally at home handling a gun or a girl - the main difference being that they washed before grabbing the latter, although not always.