[Mharvey]

Though I'm new here, I'll take a crack at this one as it's of particular interest to me.

The easy answer is: anything can work in a novel if it's written well. The hard answer is: homosexuality is still very taboo amongst a lot of readers. It makes them feel uncomfortable. It's a challenge for me, as I know for a fact, one of my character's is gay in a novel I'm writing.

What I've found works in writing a gay character is less is more. Make him a character first, a gay man/knight/kid second. If he's a likable character first, then we find out he's gay halfway through the novel, most readers can digest it.

The best example I can think of is Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter - we had no idea he was a homosexual character, yet the fact he was revealed to be gay after the fact really casts an extra level of illumination on him, and really wasn't unbelievable, given how he acted in many situations.

Hope this helps!