Orbit, the Hachette Book Group science fiction publisher, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this fall, as is Hachette’s manga imprint, Yen Press. And what a wild ride it’s been for Orbit, especially this past year. Honors and awards have been raining down: the press’s Samuil Petrovitch trilogy by Simon Morden snagged a 2012 Philip K. Dick Award for distinguished science fiction published in the U.S. in paperback original format. The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett received a special citation from the Philip K. Dick Trust. The Company Man also was nominated for a 2012 Edgar Award for best paperback original. The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin was shortlisted for a Nebula Award for best novel. And Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and Deadline by Mira Grant are duking it out for a Hugo Award for best novel.

Orbit authors are used to flying high. Brent Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy has sold more than 500,000 copies in the U.S. The final novel in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, Timeless, debuted at #22 on the New York Times mass market bestseller list in March. Karen Miller’s novels from Orbit have sold more than 400,000 copies in the U.S. And the graphic novel adaptation of Stephenie Meyers’s Twilight is only one of several Yen Press releases to hit the New York Times bestsellers lists in the past five years.

As Orbit celebrates its first five years, the press anticipates continuing to explore brave new worlds, including that of digital publishing. Orbit’s short fiction program publishes original novellas by Orbit authors in electronic formats, and last fall Orbit released its first digital-original, full-length e-book, The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow.

There are going to be celestial happenings at Orbit’s booth (3633), what with Orbit/Yen fifth-anniversary commemorative cloth bags being handed out, as well as other promotional giveaways. Today, Orbit will host two in-booth author signings: N.K. Jemisin will sign finished copies of The Killing Moon at 1 p.m., and Kate Locke will sign finished copies of God Save the Queen at 4 p.m.