A science-fiction novel by Frederik Pohl, O Pioneer! originally ran as a serial in Analog from October to December 1997. It was published in book form in 1998 by Tor Books.
Evesham Giyt, an ex-computer criminal, finds himself bored with his life on Earth, and decides to sign up for the Tupelo colony, run by a somewhat shady corporation, Ex-Earth.
Tupelo, the first human colony outside of the Sol system, turns out to be inhabited by five other alien races. And that's not all Ex-Earth left out of the brochure...
The rest of the story unfolds as a fairly engaging mystery, as several questions reveal themselves when Giyt manages to get himself voted mayor of the human colonists. Why is Ex-Earth leery of working with the other races? Why are humans the ones doing all the menial tasks, while the other five races have their own technological specialties? Why are all the human colonists American citizens, while ostensibly the colony is under UN control? Why are six keys from all six races needed to activate the matter transmitter (the only way on or off the planet)?
Interesting aliens (but a but underdeveloped, except for the matriarchal Centaurians), and while the ending is fairly predictable, there are enough nice touches (jabs at the American space program, for example) that the book ends up as a pretty good read, overall.