Warpath

In the far future the bulk of humanity has spread to the stars - only to discover that the American Indians got there first!
Long before Columbus, a tribe of Mississippi Indians discovered the metaphysical Effect that makes space travel possible and paddled their birchbark canoes to distant worlds light-years from Earth. Now an interstellar Indian nation, armed with spears and guided missiles, comes into conflict with colonists from a technological civilization so advanced that even their homes and newspapers possess artificial intelligences. History seems poised to repeat itself, but on a galactic scale.
Will James is a reporter on the icy planet Candle. He is also a five hundred year old transmission from Earth's distant past. Reborn into a future that amazes him, Will is torn between his ties to the settlers, his friendship with an Indian Wanderer, and his feelings for a strange young woman who may not be entirely human. But, in the end, he may be the only person who stands between the universe and an endless ... Warpath.
Combining stunning science fiction concepts with powerful human drama, Warpath is an engrossing novel of extraordinary richness.