So, over this summer I did a whole bunch of work for my parents and grandmother. I painted a porch, I refinished cabinets... What I'm trying to say is, I spent a whole lot of time listening to podcasts. And since I was all caught up on EA's podcasts, I used my time to listen to StarShipSofa, and during that time I have come to really enjoy Larry Santoro's readings. He's the bomb. And when I realized he was reading this story, I was frankly ecstatic.
Yes, he did perhaps insert more drama into his reading than some other readers, but I think that it's sufficiently motivated by the story to add to the presentation rather than distract from it. I am always willing to listen to a story Larry narrates. Seriously.
Regarding the story itself: I quite enjoyed it. I was confused for a little bit by the gender switch between the first two masks, but that, I think, helped in a way to illustrate the sort of non-human physical being of the narrator and his fellow 'courtesans.' As a theory, though, that occurs to me - if we're working within human physical norms with the added extrapolation of a queen who is the primary female breeder, or even in fact the ONLY female breeder, we could be looking at a culture composed entirely of biologically male citizens whose 'gender' (or whatever the term is for what you identify as) is determined by the masks but for whom 'gender' means (in the sexual realm), if I may be crude, who's pitching.
...This is why I don't usually write on forums when it's late and I'm tired.
But in all seriousness - it was a good story, and caught me off-guard repeatedly. The ending was a surprise and actually, to me, it makes sense that he may end up this sort of maniac, especially if his de-programming had not been properly or thoroughly completed before the woman was caught by the Gendarmes.