Gordon R. Dickson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro created a space opera series called The Harriers. The series was packaged by Bill Fawcett and sold to Jim Baen. I'm friendly with Gordy and Quinn, while Bill and Jim are very close friends indeed.
The framework of the series was not only light but politically correct: the Harriers are policemen who bounce around the galaxy righting wrongs without lethal weapons. Furthermore, each team has an alien commissar attached to make darned sure no villain's rights are trampled. Not to put too fine a point on it, I got dragged into The Harriers kicking and screaming that I was absolutely the worst person in the world to write a story in that construct.
When I really got into it, though, I realized I wasn't being asked to write a politically correct story: I was supposed to write about cops operating under strict politically-correct controls. That was something I could handle.
Some bits of the story's dialogue are cribbed from real conversations between Quinn and me as I was trying to understand the rules of the story universe. As for the night-blooming cereus–the one my wife planted in our bedroom bloomed while I was writing the story. The bloom is huge, gorgeous, and has a penetrating, peppery odor. I know it's traditional to name ships after leaders, cities, or large, hungry animals; but I tell you, a plant as striking as a night-blooming cereus deserves to have a super-dreadnought of its own.